Sochi signatures: National convention bureau inks deals to help Russia's regions attract major events

Russia’s new National Convention Bureau Association has signed a raft of agreements with individual Russian regional administrations to help drive events and investments to them. The agreements were signed at the Russian Investment Forum held 15-16 February in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. A session ‘Business Events: is there a new tool that could boost the investment attractiveness of Russia’s regions?’ was held at the Forum and moderated by Green Capital Alliance director and professor at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration Maxim Safonov. There were presentations at the Forum by head of corporate and real estate practices at Clifford Chance CIS Limited Marc Bartholomy; National Convention Bureau Association (NCBA) CEO Alexey Kalachev, Match TV general producer Tinatin Kandelaki; Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Bashkortostan Rustem Mardanov, and first deputy governor of the Sverdlovsk Region Alexey Orlov. There was also senior representation at the conference from Krasnodar Territory Development Corporation, the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry  and from the government of the Oryol Region. Russia’s Ekaterinburg Expo 2025 Bid Committee was also present. The regions signing agreements with the NCBA included many mulling the possibility of bidding for major events for the first time as part of a development strategy. The NCBA also signed a tripartite agreement with the Federal Tourism Agency (Rostourism) and the Visit Russia National Marketing Centre for Tourism to facilitate using the existing platforms of strategic partners as one of the key channels for promoting the country abroad. A number of specific steps are planned as part of this co-operation to facilitate the construction of the appropriate infrastructure and ease the visa regime for participants in events. A number of the Russian regions will be represented at Russia’s national booth as part of IMEX Frankfurt in May 2018.