The Armenian capital hosted the 3rd Eurasian Economic Forum from September 30 to October 1, timed to coincide with the meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council featuring Heads of Government of the Eurasian Economic Union Member States and Observer States. The event was held as part of the 2024 presidency of the Republic of Armenia in the Eurasian Economic Union’s governing bodies.
About 2000 attendees from more than 30 countries
took part in the Forum. Business representatives were particularly interested: about 200 companies came to the Forum. The Forum included EAEU–Cuba and EAEU–Iran business dialogues, during which conceptual issues of developing trade and economic cooperation were discussed.
The business program of the Forum comprised over 30 events. The EEF 2024 participants discussed topical areas of economic cooperation of the EAEU Member States, such as EAEU strategic development, comprehensive cooperation and technological cooperation, digitalization, development of transport infrastructure and logistics, domestic market quality and support for entrepreneurship, as well as international cooperation.
The key event of the 3rd Eurasian Economic Forum was the plenary session Digitalization in Modern Realities — an Imperative to Ensure Four Freedoms, which was attended by Heads of Government of the Eurasian Economic Union countries: Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia; Roman Golovchenko, Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus; Olzhas Bektenov, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan; Akylbek Zhaparov, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers — Head of the Presidential Executive Office of the Kyrgyz Republic, Mikhail Mishustin, Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation; and Bakytzhan Sagintaev, Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission. Abdulla Aripov, Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, and Mohammad Reza Aref, First Vice-President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, also took part in the Forum as guests of honor.
The Forum was attended by a large delegation from Iran. The EAEU–Iran business dialogue included a panel discussion, during which conceptual issues of trade and economic cooperation development were discussed, as well as sectoral round tables that considered practical tasks in agriculture, industry, transportation and financial instruments for trade and investment facilitation. As part of sectoral round tables, representatives of EAEU business associations and businesses also presented their current and upcoming projects.
Green Eurasia International Climate Competition
Within the framework of the Forum, the Agency for Strategic Initiatives together with the Eurasian Economic Commission held the Green Eurasia competition for the second time, aiming at identifying technology leaders of the “green agenda” and popularizing effective practices for climate adaptation of the economy to climate change effects. Best Practices recognized by the experts will be recommended for replication.
This year Green Eurasia was open to participants from all over the world. The competition became a large-scale platform to exchange experience in strengthening climate resilience. In total, over 300 applications
were submitted for 15 categories.
The competition winners and finalists were 57 best climate practices from the Russian Federation, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Egypt, Indonesia and Uzbekistan.
The award ceremony featured Mher Grigoryan, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia; Igor Petrishenko, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus; Serik Zhumangarin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan; Adylbek Kasymaliev, First Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic; Alexey Overchuk, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation; as well as Andrey Slepnev, EEC Minister in charge of Trade.
Agreements
An action plan (road map) on interaction between the Eurasian Economic Commission and the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications for 2024–2027 was signed. The signatories were Varos Simonyan, EEC Minister in charge of Internal Markets, Information Support, Information & Communication Technologies, and Alexey Borodin, Director General of the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications.
An agreement on cooperation was signed between the Industrial Cluster of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Association of Legal Entities “Kazakhstan Electric Power Association”. The document was signed by Sergei Mayorov, chairman of the Industrial Cluster of the Republic of Tatarstan, and Talgat Temirkhanov, chairman of the Association of Legal Entities “Kazakhstan Electric Power Association”.
Information partners of the 3rd Eurasian Economic Forum: TASS news agency, Belteleradiocompany, Public Radio of Armenia, Armenpress news agency, Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).