RUSSIA-USA BUSINESS DIALOGUE ROUNDTABLE AT SPIEF 2017

President Vladimir Putin took part in the Russia–USA Business Dialogue panel discussion. The event was held as part of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The US delegation at this year’s St Petersburg Forum was the largest ever (more than 300 people representing various US companies and businesses) Almost a quarter of all foreign companies registered with the forum came from the United States, 144 out of 511.

U.S. Participants

1. American Chamber of Commerce in Russia (AmCham)
2. Russian-American Business Council,
3. U.S.-Russia Business Council (USRBC)
4. U.S. Chamber of Commerce

U.S. business community

1. Daniel Russell, President and CEO, U.S. - Russia Business Council (USRBC)
2. Myron Brilliant, Executive VP and head of International Affairs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
3. Andrew Lane, Executive Vice President, Established Pharmaceutical, Abbott
4. Bob Moritz, Chairman , PwC international
5. Bruno Di Leo , Senior Vice President Global Markets, IBM Corporation
6. Clyde C. Tuggle, CEO Chief Advisor, Coca-Cola Company
7. Felipe Pastrana, Vice President, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), AbbVie
8. Glenn Waller , President, ExxonMobil Russia, Inc.
9. Gustavo Sapoznik , General director and Co-founder, ASAPP.
10. Jay R. Pryor , Vice President for Business Development, Chevron Corporation
11. Jeffrey Miller, President and Chief Health, Safety and Environment Officer, Halliburton 
12. Jim Umpleby , CEO, Caterpillar Inc.
13. Mark Allen, President, Boeing International 
14. Mark Pincus , Co-founder, Zynga
15. Mark Sutton, Chairman, CEO, International Paper
16. Osman Kibar , CEO and co-founder, Samumed 
17. Ron Pollett, GE Vice-President, CEO & President of GE in Russia / CIS 
18. Steve Smith , President and CEO, Amsted Rail
19. Tom Linebarger , Chairman and CEO, Cummins.

Participants in the discussion from both sides were adamant in calling for stepping up business ties, saying that they all firmly believe in the lasting benefits of cooperation and the complementarity of Russian and US businesses. They also supported various cooperation and collaboration frameworks, especially in areas dealing with new challenges for the global economy alongside traditional ones (eg IT-related challenges where Russia and the USA have extensive expertise, making it extremely important to promote cooperation in this area)

The business community spoke out in single voice in the hope that solutions at the political level will pave the way for improving and further promoting Russia-US economic relations.

Today major US companies continue to operate in Russia and to maintain a notable presence on the Russian market. There are about 3,000 firms with American capital in Russia. The total assets of these enterprises amount to about $75 billion, and they employ over 180,000 people.

Today the business communities of the two countries continue to maintain close contacts.