VERONA, 22 October (BelTA) – Ongoing closure of borders will not help humankind to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic soon, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said at the 13th Eurasian Economic Forum in Verona, Italy on 22 October, BelTA has learned.
“If, instead of solving problems, we continue blaming individual countries for being the virus carriers and keep our borders closed, humankind may not be able to cope with the pandemic as soon as we want,” said Igor Sechin. He believes that a more rational and productive approach is not confrontation but joint efforts to address the challenges facing humanity in the economic, energy and environmental protection sectors.
“The world economy is experiencing an unprecedented period of turbulence and uncertainty. The world economy is expected to decline this year. The prospects for 2021 are determined by success in fighting the pandemic,” the Rosneft CEO said. According to him, the world economy and the demand for oil may start recovering in 2021. “Mankind, however, needs to make a coordinated effort to achieve such results. This is a difficult but solvable task,” Igor Sechin said.
Despite the pandemic, the two-day 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 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.
