A panel discussion titled To Sustainable Development: Business and Biodiversity Conservation will be held at the Eastern Economic Forum on 4 September. It will be attended by Sergei Ivanov, Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office. The panel discussion has been organised by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the autonomous non-profit organisations Far Eastern Leopards and the Amur Tiger Centre and the Priroda (Nature) Foundation on instructions from the Presidential Executive Office.

The participants will discuss socially responsible business practices and the future impact these practices can have on the conservation of biological and landscape diversity in the Far East and in Russia. One issue on the agenda of this panel discussion deals with state and business programmes and projects for the protection of rare animals. The discussions will be attended by the top managers of major Russian companies, officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources (Rosprirodnadzor), and representatives of WWF Russia, IFAW Russia and the Pacific Geographical Institute of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as scientists, ecologists and employees of Russian reserves and national parks.

The Eastern Economic Forum will be held on Russky Island in Vladivostok on 3-5 September. Its programme includes an interactive exhibition, Wildlife in the Far East, with themed areas on the preservation of the Amur tiger and the Far Eastern leopard. On 3 September, a charity auction will be held in support of the Far Eastern environment and rare animals at the initiative of Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District.