The Eastern Economic Forum, which 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, will be held on Russky Island in Vladivostok on 3-5 September. Minister Sergei Donskoi will head the delegation of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

The minister said that the upcoming forum is expected to become the best venue, in terms of standards and representation, for discussing business projects in connection with environmental protection and the influence of companies’ environmental responsibility on their investment attractiveness and capitalisation.

A panel discussion titled To Sustainable Development: Business and Biodiversity Conservation, which will be held at the forum on 4 September, will be attended by Sergei Ivanov, Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office, and Konstantin Chuichenko, Chief of the Presidential Control Directorate. Other attendees will include top managers of major Russian companies, scientists, ecologists and employees of Russian reserves and national parks.

The participants will discuss state and business programmes and projects for the protection of rare animals and the environmental aspects of companies’ social responsibility programmes that are implemented in Russia.

An interactive exhibition titled Wildlife in the Far East, with themed areas on the preservation of the Amur tiger and the Far Eastern leopard, will be open during the Eastern Economic Forum.