Forumal logic – Newspaper Kommersant No. 24 (7469) of 02/09/2023

The State Duma approved a plan for the participation of deputies in international, all-Russian and interregional socio-political and economic forums this year. All events, including those declared as international, will be held exclusively within Russia, mostly in St. Petersburg. At the same time, funding for almost half of the trips is in question – it depends on whether the Duma will have saved budget funds.

The plan for the participation of State Duma delegations in the forums (Kommersant got acquainted with it), prepared by the head of the apparatus of the lower house of parliament Igor Diveykin, was approved by the Duma Council on Monday, February 6. Almost half of the 23 events announced in it will be held in St. Petersburg. In addition to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June, the deputies will visit the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum, the International Arctic Forum, the Nevsky International Ecological Congress, the International Naval Salon, the St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum, the Eurasian Women’s Forum and a number of other events in the northern capital.

Two forums will be held in Sochi: the Russian Investment Forum in February and the FINOPOLIS forum of innovative financial technologies organized by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in November. In April, the deputies will fly to the Crimea – to the Yalta International Economic Forum. They also plan to travel to similar events in Krasnoyarsk (April) and Vladivostok (Eastern Economic Forum in September).

The Duma delegates are going to discuss the topic of Eurasian development in the summer beyond the Urals: in Gorno-Altaisk, they will participate in the international forum “Altai vector of Eurasian integration” organized by the government of the region, and in Yekaterinburg, the European-Asian legal congress under the auspices of the Russian Bar Association.

Deputies will deal with youth policy at the North Caucasian youth forum “Mashuk” in Pyatigorsk (August) and at the All-Russian Student Forum in Kazan (September). They are also scheduled to take part in the International Sports Forum “Russia is a Sports Power” in Perm in autumn.

The largest Duma delegation will go to the St. Petersburg Economic Forum (15 deputies from eight committees and five employees of the lower house apparatus) and to the investment forum in Sochi (eight deputies and two officials). In other cases, as a rule, the delegation consists of five deputies and one civil servant. The duration of business trips will be from one to five days.

The most popular at the forums, judging by the plan for 2023, are the State Duma committees for the development of the Far East and the Arctic and for physical culture and sports – their representatives should attend five such events. Four forums will be attended by members of the Committee for the Protection of Competition, three by deputies from the committees for economic policy and tourism. At the same time, 14 out of 32 Duma committees, including, for example, committees on budget and taxes, on security and on information policy, do not plan to participate in such events.

At the same time, the document stipulates that funding for almost half of the trips “is carried out when savings occur during the implementation of this plan.” Such “economy-class forums” include, for example, the investment forum in Sochi, as well as the International Financial Congress and the International Naval Show in St. Petersburg. At the same time, at the same meeting, the Council of the Duma approved the trip of the head of the energy committee, Pavel Zavalny, to Cape Town from February 7 to 11 to participate in the ceremony of the annual address of the President of South Africa to the nation (the committee on international affairs made such a proposal).

The action plan was approved in accordance with the priorities of the lower house, a source in the Duma apparatus explained to Kommersant. Deputies will indeed visit some of the forums only if there are savings, but in this convocation, the State Duma, as a rule, has savings, the interlocutor added.

Afanasy Sborov