The Donetsk International Investment Forum started in the capital of the DPR with the participation of guests from 17 countries, including Russia, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, France, Finland, the USA, Great Britain and African countries.
The meeting, at which it is planned to sign a number of important agreements, will take place over two days at six thematic platforms, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The event was opened by the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin.
“A meeting of this level is a unique opportunity to formulate an agenda for expanding the geography of cooperation and show the industrial potential and level of the tasks we have set for ourselves... World history knows many examples when artificial restrictions turned disadvantages into advantages, taking non-standard approaches as a basis. The residents of our republic have withstood many trials, but were able to maintain both the industrial base and a great desire to work. Labor has always been held in special esteem in Donbass, and today we have a firm intention to restore our region’s reputation as a responsible business partner,” said the head of the republic.
Pushilin recalled that the DPR has already demonstrated its products at various international economic platforms, such as the Yalta Economic Forum, as well as in St. Petersburg and Syria, where certain agreements were reached.
“Now we are faced with the tasks of their practical implementation. We hope that the forum will contribute to the development of agreements and will also become a platform for significantly increasing investment attractiveness. We need a new model for the functioning of the republican economy, taking into account the export component,” added the head of the DPR.
Immediately after Pushilin’s opening speech, the head of the French private consulting bureau, Marie-Antoinette Chikaya, took the floor and immediately set a businesslike tone for the meeting.
“This is my first time in the DPR, I am proud to have the opportunity to visit your republic. It is necessary to think and develop a strategy to take advantage of this moment in the development of the economies of African states and cooperation with other states. We also count on the development and construction of a new financial system in order to use blockchain technologies, we must strive to achieve this task,” said the guest from France.
Interestingly, a similar event was opened today by the Ukrainian authorities in Kyiv-controlled Mariupol - this second largest city of the DPR was captured by the Ukrainian army in the summer of 2014.
The Mariupol event was turned into a “Soros” forum – a typical grant-eating gathering for today’s Ukraine, Kiev political scientist Alexander Skubchenko notes in his blog.
“Temporarily verified by the United States in Ukraine, Taylor welcomed the students who set off on a special (!!!) train to Mariupol for the so-called “investment forum”... This is all you need to know about this grant-eating gathering, closed to everyone, where only obedient guards will be present US embassy and the country's top leadership. All others are closed. The fate of Donbass will be decided by the US Embassy, not Zelensky,” the political scientist commented on the photo on Facebook.