SPIEF Signals Failure of Western Economic War Against Russia

The 25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) concluding last week has signaled the failure of the unilateral sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and other Western countries, analysts and government officials say.

RELATED:

Russia Tops Saudi Arabia in Crude Oil Exports to China

The forum, held on June 15-18, brought together political and business figures from over 130 countries, who shared their ideas on major challenges facing the world economy and offered their solutions.

Despite the U.S. boycott and the absence of many European countries, this year's forum has seen 14,000 participants and 691 business contracts worth US$100 billion signed, with all indexes showing increase compared with last year's event.

During a plenary session at the forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the West has been imposing an unprecedented number of sanctions upon Russia at an unprecedented speed, yet the Western countries' "economic blitzkrieg" against Russia was doomed to fail from the beginning while sanctions as a weapon have proved to be a double-edged sword.

Putin emphasized that despite efforts that are currently being taken by some countries to maintain a unipolar world order, this era is over and the arrival of a multilateral world system is inevitable.

This year's event demonstrated Russia's self-sufficiency and its capability of responding to external pressure under a complex international situation, said Anton Kobyakov, adviser to the Russian President and executive secretary of the organizing committee of the forum.

Topics through conferences during the forum showed that Russia has been focused on expanding cooperation with BRICS countries and the Commonwealth of Independent States, and looking for opportunities for further cooperation with Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin said Russia was willing to work with the Eurasian Economic Union and other multilateral frameworks in order to strengthen cooperation in scientific and technological innovation and green energy, and to further promote regional integration for further development.

Mikhail Myasnikovich, chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission, believes that the current global economic order is undergoing a transformation, and the establishment of the Greater Eurasian Partnership is conducive to solving the problems and addressing challenges currently facing Russia. He added that Russia is willing to strengthen cooperation with other countries in fields such as payment settlement, logistics, and transportation.