12 July saw
the conclusion of the III Global Fishery Forum and the Exhibition of Fish
Industry, Seafood and Technology concluded in St. Petersburg. The event brought
together leading members of the business and academic community,
representatives of fisheries and heads of sectoral agencies, enterprises from
related sectors, heads of ministries and agencies, and representatives of public
associations from 38 countries and 30 Russian regions.
GFF 2019 has
confirmed its status of the year’s main sectoral event and demonstrated that
such a communication platform is in high demand with Russian and foreign
experts. The organizer of the Forum was the Federal Agency for Fisheries; the
Roscongress Foundation was the Forum’s operator, while ExpoSolutions Group was
the operator of Seafood Expo.
A total of nearly
6,000 people attended the GFF. It was visited by 20 representative foreign delegations
from Turkey, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Namibia, the Republic of Korea,
Japan, Iceland, the Republic of Guinea, Sri Lanka, and other countries, and by heads
of major international fishery organizations. The event was covered by approximately
250 Russian and foreign journalists from Russia, Malaysia, the UK, France and
Japan.
The dignitaries
attending the Forum included Bekir Pakdemirli, Minister
of Agriculture and Forestry, Republic of Turkey; Fredéric
Loua, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture
and Marine Economy, Republic of Guinea; Has Saret, State Secretary of the
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Kingdom of Cambodia; Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru, Minister of Fisheries and
Livestock, People’s Republic of Bangladesh; Amiran Kakalia, Minister of
Agriculture, Republic of Abkhazia; Choi Joon-Uk, Deputy Minister for Maritime
Policies of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Republic of Korea; Atanas
Dobrev, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, Republic of Bulgaria.
“The Global Fishery Forum is an important event on the
calendar of the Russian and global sectoral community. I am confident that the Forum’s
influential delegates representing the authorities, sectoral, public, and
scientific organizations, discussed relevant areas in developing the fishing
sector including the present and future of global and local markets, economic,
environmental, and social issues, which will result in key decisions being
made”, noted Anton
Kobyakov, Adviser to the President of the Russian Federation.
“Today, Russia is focusing particularly on developing the
fishery complex. State support is increasing by the year. For instance, RUB
12.3 bn was channelled into the ‘Developing the Fishery Complex’ state programme
in 2018. In 2019, it was RUB 2 bn more. The
state support is one of the factors allowing the sector to demonstrate
sustainable, positive dynamics for several years running”, said Dmitry Patrushev, Minister of Agriculture of the
Russian Federation.
“The list of participants
and the number of attendees assembled here today show that the standing of the
Global Fishery Forum and Exhibition of Fish Industry, Seafood and Technology is
growing both in Russia and globally. We hope that the third Forum and
Exhibition will give an impetus to new joint projects, further development of
international relations and achieving major sectoral results in national
economies and at the inter-country level”, said Ilya Shestakov, Deputy Minister of Agriculture
of the Russian Federation, Head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries at the Global
Fishery Forum 2019.
A meeting was held on the sidelines of the Forum between Ilya Shestakov, Head of Rosrybolovstvo, and Choi Joon-Uk, Deputy
Minister for Oceans and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea. The parties discussed holding the 29th
Session of the Russia-Korea Fishery Commission and the preliminary agenda for
the next meeting. Additionally, the Head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries held
meetings with the Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Abkhazia, the Deputy
Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry of the Republic of Bulgaria, and the
delegations of the Republic of Bangladesh and the Republic of Guinea.
The Forum’s
business programme included a plenary session, thematic conferences, and
roundtables at which the delegates discussed key fishery industry issues.
The “Оcean of opportunities: Nature, economy and people” Plenary Session was the main event of the Forum’s
business program on its first day. The session was attended by Dmitry Patrushev, Minister of
Agriculture of the Russian Federation; Ilya Shestakov, Deputy Minister of
Agriculture of the Russian Federation, Head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries; Marcio Castro de Souza, Senior
Fishery Officer at FAO; Suam
Kim, President of the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC); Jacques Verborgh, President of the North
East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC); Bekir Pakdemirli, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry
of the Republic of Turkey; Vladimir Ilyukhin, Governor of the Kamchatka Territory; Igor Orlov, Governor of the Arkhangelsk
Region; and Vladimir Sitnov, Senior Vice
President, Corporate and Investment Business Block at PJSC Sberbank.
The attendants
discussed economic efficiency and social stability, regulating fishing and competition,
the sector’s legal framework and the balance between public and private
interests.
Sectoral experts and members of official delegations spoke at the panel
sessions: “Digitalization as a Tool for the Transformation of the Fisheries
Industry”, “How to sell fish properly”, “The Arctic and Antarctica: Resource
Potential, Ban, or Fishing, Elements of Cooperation”, “New faces of fisheries
science. New ideas. New solutions”, “Unlocking the Potential of Aquaculture in
Russia and the World: Management, Resources, Markets”, “The cost of the fish
industry: how to evaluate the efficiency of business use of a nationwide
resource?”, “Fish Market Economics: Fishing, Processing, Logistics, and Retail”,
and “Fisheries: The Social Dimension as a Factor for the Development of
Territories.”
In addition
to Russian and foreign representatives of the fishing industry, the Global
Fishery Forum was attended by scientists, specialists from public organizations
and state sectoral agencies.
The III International Exhibition of Fish Industry, Seafood
and Technology (Seafood Expo Russia) demonstrated the full fishery complex
cycle: fishing and processing companies, manufacturers of equipment,
shipbuilding companies, plants, commercial and government organizations, and professional
associations. The Expo introduces its visitors to the work of Russian and
foreign fish industry leaders; here, one can taste their products and go
through a multimedia interactive tunnel.
The Expo pavilion’s
area exceeded 13,000 square metres. The number of participating companies
reached 335, which is 34% more than last year. Of these, 184 are Russian
companies and 151 are foreign ones. The Expo featured seven joint national
booths from Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Morocco, Turkey, China, Spain, and 12
joint regional booths from the Arkhangelsk, Astrakhan, Kaliningrad, Rostov,
Leningrad, Ulyanovsk, Murmansk, and Magadan regions, the Republics of Karelia
and Tatarstan, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, and the Primorye
Territory.
The Expo featured
a Retail Centre business zone where manufacturers and representatives of major
chains held talks on direct deliveries of fish and seafood. Major retail chains,
such as X5 Retail Group (Pyatyorochka, Perekrestok, Karusel), Auchan, Lenta,
Magnit, Azbuka Vkusa, and big regional chains are present in the Business Zone.
Over the two days of the Exhibition, 15 fishing companies held over a 100 meetings
here. Additionally, the Expo held Aquaculture Day on 11 July.
On 10 July, at
the Pella Leningrad Shipbuilding Facility, a ceremony was held to launch the Scorpio freezer trawler for a Murmansk
fishing company. The event was attended by Dmitry Patrushev, Minister of Agriculture of the
Russian Federation; Ilya Shestakov, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the
Russian Federation, Head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries; Gerbert
Tsaturov, Pella OJSC General Director; and Yuri Parshev, Executive Director of
FEST Company Group. The building of the vessel at the Russian shipbuilding yard
was made possible by investment quotas, a state support mechanism.
On the same
day, five important agreements were
signed at the exhibition. The Government of the Arkhangelsk Region concluded
agreements with the Government of the Kamchatka Territory, with the Northern
(Arctic) Federal University, and the Arctic Fishing Cluster Association. In
turn, the Northern University signed an agreement with the Russian Research
Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography. The Arctic Fishing Cluster Association
and the Federal State Unitary Enterprise National Fish Resources (FSUE
NATSRYBRESURS) signed a document on participation in the industrial activities
of the Arctic Fishing Cluster.
On 11 July, The Federal
Agency for Fisheries and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of
the Kingdom of Cambodia signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in
fisheries and aquaculture. The document was signed by Ilya Shestakov, Deputy
Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation and Head of the Federal
Agency for Fisheries, and Eng Chea San, delegate from the Royal Government of
Cambodia, General Director of the Fisheries Administration. The parties are
interested in cooperating closely in scientific research to develop measures for
conserving living marine resources and making rational use of them.
On 11 July, the
Chief Basin Office for Fisheries and Preservation of Aquatic Biological
Resources (FSBE Glavrybvod) and Rosrybolovstvo
named the winners of the FishCorr
all-Russia journalistic competition. The panel of judges honoured Russia’s
best journalists, periodicals, news outlets and TV channels releasing articles,
reports and films about restoring aquatic bioresources, solving environmental
problems and conserving river potential.
Ahead of
Fisherman’s Day, the Head of Rosrybolovstvo presented awards
to veterans of the fishery sector and the best employees of Russia’s fishery
complex.
The III Global Fishery Forum and
International Exhibition of Fish Industry, Seafood and Technology (Seafood Expo
Russia) has been held from 10 to 12 July 2019 in St. Petersburg, at the
ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Centre. The event is organized by the
Federal Agency for Fisheries and the Roscongress Foundation is the Forum’s
operator.
