The 28th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) opened in the second largest city of Russia on Wednesday, bringing together all parties to explore effective approaches to addressing global challenges.
Themed "Shared Values: The Foundation of Growth in a Multipolar World," this year's forum runs till Saturday.
According to Anton Kobyakov, adviser to the Russian president and executive secretary of the SPIEF Organizing Committee, nearly 20,000 representatives from 140 countries and regions and heads of several international organizations have confirmed their participation in this year's forum.
This forum is held at a time when the global economy is facing severe challenges. It is poised to be a platform for discussing the issues from accelerating digitalization to addressing climate change, and for formulating specific practical solutions that can adapt the global economy to new conditions.
The forum includes more than 150 events, with entrepreneurs from Russia, China, the United States, Türkiye, Brazil, Vietnam, India, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, African and Latin American countries, as well as the European Union and Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states engaged in business talks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend a plenary session and deliver a speech Friday.
Established in 1997, the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is an important platform for discussing global economic governance and fostering international consensus on cooperation. Since 2006, it has been held under the auspices of the Russian president, who has also attended each event.
According to its organizer, the Roscongress Foundation, 1,073 agreements worth more than 6.4 trillion rubles (about 81.5 billion U.S. dollars) were signed at the 27th SPIEF in 2024.
Russia's flagship international economic forum opens in St. Petersburg
Russia's flagship international economic forum opens in St. Petersburg
About 840 million cross-regional passenger trips are estimated in China during the three-day Qingming Festival holiday which started on Saturday, a 6-percent increase compared with the same period of last year.
On the first day of the holiday alone, over 300 million cross-regional passenger trips were made, marking a 4.5-percent increase compared with the same period of last year. Notably, railway and expressway passenger volumes both hit record highs on the same day.
China's railway system is expected to handle 20.8 million passenger trips on Monday, the last day of the holiday, and the transportation sector has planned to operate an additional 1,369 passenger trains.
Railway authorities in cities such as Zhengzhou, Changchun, Wuhan, and Xi'an have added extra passenger trains, using a coupling mode for EMUs and supplementing with ordinary trains to meet the surging demand.
Many tourists choose to travel by car, as all expressways are toll-free for vehicles with up to seven seats during the holiday. As a result, expressways across the country, especially those in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Yangtze River Delta region, have witnessed surging traffic on Monday, with the toll-free period expected to end at midnight (24:00).
The civil aviation sector is expected to welcome 1.94 million passengers on the same day, and waterways are estimated to handle over 1.11 million passenger trips.
"On the first day of the holiday, the expressway network handled 62.67 million vehicle trips, including 14.68 million new energy vehicles. The surge in self-driving travel and cultural tourism consumption drove double-digit growth in spending at scenic spots, hotels, and car rentals. In addition, returning to hometowns for tomb-sweeping activities and in-depth rural tours have also brought vitality to rural areas, promoting the spread of consumption from central cities to rural areas," said Yang Yong, deputy head of the Transport Services Department of the Chinese Ministry of Transport.
Falling on Sunday this year, the Qingming Festival, or the Tomb-Sweeping Day, is a traditional Chinese festival for honoring the deceased and paying tributes to ancestors. The three-day holiday also provides a short break for Chinese citizens to enjoy outdoor activities and sightseeing in pleasant springtime temperatures.
840 mln cross-regional passenger trips estimated in China during Qingming Festival holiday
