On July 2, in Astana (Kazakhstan), the first Forum of the Mayors of the Silk Road (Global Silk Road) countries’ cities took place, in which the delegation of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, headed by its President, Mr. Vladimir Platonov, has taken part.
This significant event brought together the leaders of megacities and regions, representatives of business communities and academia, well-known experts from Kazakhstan, Russia, China, the United States, Singapore, almost all of the countries of Europe and Central Asia, through which the Great Silk Road ran thousands of years ago.
The project of the New Silk Road (the Eurasian land bridge) - a grand pan-European, and, in the long run, intercontinental logistics system that is uniting and developing economies of dozens of countries on different continents - was proposed several years ago by the Chairman of the People's Republic of China, Mr. Xi Jinping, and is supported by the Presidents of Kazakhstan and Russia, Messrs. Nursultan Nazarbayev and Vladimir Putin.
The Forum that brought together the management and business elite of the New Silk Road countries is being held for the first time. Representing the Moscow business community, Mr. Platonov, on the first day of the Forum, opened the panel session "Perspectives of regional integration and business interaction of the Silk Road countries". The President of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry spoke about the Moscow’s experience in establishing hospitality methods and practices, which are being clearly demonstrated now, during the ongoing FIFA World Cup, and about the role of the Guilds of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce in creating an advanced hospitality infrastructure - hotel business, taxis, non-state security structures, consumer market and services, etc.
At the Forum, Mr. Platonov held a B2B meeting with the Russian Trade representative in Kazakhstan, Mr. Alexander Yakovlev, the First Deputy Chairman of the Saratov regional government, Mr. Vladimir Oykin, and the High Commissioner of the Eurasian Economic Cooperation Organization (EECO) on International Cooperation, Mr. Anisette Gabriel Kochof. During all of the meetings, the models of cooperation with the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry were discussed, with a view to developing international and interregional cooperation of the business community of the Russian capital.