VERONA, 23 October (BelTA) - The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) proved to be much better prepared for the second wave of COVID-19, and the pessimistic forecasts made earlier by some experts fortunately do not come true, Member of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Andrei Slepnev said at the 13th Eurasian Economic Forum in Verona, Italy on 22 October, BelTA has learned.
According to Andrei Slepnev, the economic sector in the EAEU is expected to decline by 3.5% by the end of 2020. “Supply chains have been affected. There are concerns about food security. Physical separateness has also become a problem. At the same time, it should be noted that the improved readiness of healthcare systems has let produce a much better response to the second wave of COVID-19 than it was expected in summer. We do not have mass lockdowns. These apocalyptic forecasts for the second wave, fortunately, are not becoming a reality,” he said.
The EEC minister called the tendency for the world's closed economies, which was formed in spring and is still preserved today, a worrying trend. “The conflict potential is also growing. Moreover, there are more those speaking in favor of reassembling the economies after COVID-19 in the new technological mode already within this very emerging isolation. This is also the reason for the crisis in which the WTO finds itself,” Andrei Slepnev said.
“As for the EAEU, we should note that, of course, we are better prepared than many by the logic of self-sufficiency. This is true about the energy sector, food security, industry and basic technologies,” said Andrei Slepnev.
Despite the pandemic, the forum in Verona has brought together representatives of government authorities, top managers of large companies, political and public figures, diplomats, experts, and journalists from Europe and Asia. This year, the organizers reduced the number of participants from 1,500 to 500, some of them joined the forum online. The speakers include former Italian Prime Ministers Romano Prodi and Massimo D'Alema, State Secretary of the Union State of Belarus and Russia Grigory Rapota, Member of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Andrei Slepnev, Secretary General of the Central European Initiative Roberto Antonione, Russian Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko, Italian Minister of Health Roberto Speranza, Head of the Russian Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare Anna Popova, Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, Rosneft President and CEO Igor Sechin, Gazprom Export General Director Elena Burmistrova, Chairman of the Board of Skolkovo Foundation Victor Vekselberg, Chairman and CEO of the French concert Total Patrick Pouyanne, and many others.
The general topic of the discussion is a new reality for the global economy – from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The participants are set to discuss economic recovery models, the future of the oil industry and the development of the gas industry in the new economic reality. The participants of the forum will discuss prerequisites for a new geopolitical and socioeconomic order amid the pandemic and the structural economic crisis. Some sessions will focus on overcoming social inequality and poverty as the society evolves, rethinking global healthcare systems in the Covid-19 era, and the dialogue between Europe and Eurasia. A brand new topic for the forum is genetics and genome research and their contribution to medicine, agriculture, the manufacturing and energy industries.
The organizers of the Eurasian Economic Forum in Verona are the non-profit organization Conoscere Eurasia, the Roscongress Foundation, and the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum. BelTA is an information partner of the forum in Verona.
