At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2025 (SPIEF 2025), the Roscongress International Cooperation Area was launched as a new communication and thematic platform for dialogue between government officials, business leaders, experts, international organisations, and integration associations. As part of this initiative, a joint media project was implemented by the Roscongress International Platform and the TV BRICS International Media Network.

“These kinds of projects are not just one-off initiatives but an important step toward building long-term ties. We are glad to be creating platforms that become starting points for new formats of international dialogue. I am confident that the media project with the international media network TV BRICS will serve as a foundation for further cooperation and for scaling successful media practices,” said Aleksander Stuglev, Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Roscongress Foundation.

The central element of the media project was the joint TV BRICS studio set up in the Roscongress International Cooperation Area at SPIEF 2025. Throughout the Forum, the studio served as a dynamic space for recording and publishing interviews and expert commentary, covering a wide range of topics related to international business cooperation between Russia and other countries.

“I am actually happy to be here. It is my first time. And I have seen that there is a great opportunity here for South Africa to benefit in cooperation with Russia. We are intending to increase our trade between Russia and South Africa. We believe it is currently a bit low at almost US$1 billion. We think it should increase maybe three times. And therefore, we have brought some South African companies with us here – about 20 companies – to interact with their Russian counterparts, to start doing deals, to make sure they can do projects together between our two countries. We are quite happy to be at SPIEF and we believe that it is going to be great benefit for South Africa,” said Paul Mashatile, Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa, in an interview about South Africa’s participation in SPIEF 2025. This year, South Africa took part in the Forum as a partner exhibitor within the Roscongress International Cooperation Area.

The work of the joint TV BRICS studio at SPIEF 2025 resulted in over 20 video interviews. Interview participants included: Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva; Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations; Domingo Garcia, President of the Latin American Chamber of Commerce in Russia (CCLAR); Maria Zakharova, Director of the Information and Press Department and Official Representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry; Paul Mashatile, Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa; Hector Isidro Arenas Neira, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Colombia to the Russian Federation; Nazir Razak, Chairman of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC); Ricardo Salgado, Minister of Strategic Planning of the Republic of Honduras; Walid Farghal, Director of the AIM Congress Foundation for investment promotion, and many others.

“This Forum is well-established international platform for dialogue. Naturally its original core was centered on economics, finance, extending opportunities and partnership building. But the Forum has long since gone beyond that single theme. It turned out that this platform is capable of bringing together people who can respond to some of the most pressing issues of today... The St. Petersburg Forum has become a unique universal platform, a space of global quality,” said Maria Zakharova, Director of the Information and Press Department and Official Representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, during an interview.

Participants in the media project included representatives of international organisations, business associations, development institutions, the education sector, academia, and research centres. Thanks to this broad representation, the TV BRICS studio in the Roscongress International Cooperation Area became a true venue for the exchange of ideas and experience among professionals from various sectors and regions of the world.

Ricardo Salgado, Minister of Strategic Planning of the Republic of Honduras, remarked in his interview: “Well, I believe [SPIEF] this is a very important opportunity for countries like ours. We are here and we find an environment that is inclusive, where we can talk about our expectations with people who are interested in investment and at the same time in respecting, respecting what you think, what your politics are, everything. So, I believe for my country and for other countries like mine this is a singular opportunity and for myself in particular is an honour to be here for the first time. We are supporting a multilateral world, where everyone may have the opportunity to access things that otherwise it cannot. And we believe BRICS is a great opportunity. So, for us, it is a big step to take a look at the world, to go and ask for be part of this New [Development] Bank, and to, why not, in the coming future also apply for membership in BRICS.”

All video interviews are published on the official website of the TV BRICS International Media Network in six languages: Russian, English, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Arabic.

The content is actively distributed among international audiences through partner media. TV BRICS provided over 200 media mentions of SPIEF in partner outlets from more than 10 countries worldwide. In total, the audience reach of TV BRICS coverage of SPIEF in foreign media exceeded 600 million users.

“Cooperation with the Roscongress International Platform at SPIEF allowed our editorial team to produce exclusive informational content whose main aim was to position SPIEF as a global expert economic platform. This strengthened TV BRICS’s information agenda and resonated with our international media partners,” said Janna Tolstikova, CEO of the TV BRICS International Media Network.

A thematic discussion also took place in Roscongress International Cooperation Area entitled "25th Anniversary of the UNGC: Potential of Media Cooperation for Sustainable Development of the BRICS Group and the Role of the UN Global Compact amidst the Geopolitical Challenges".

Expert commentary during the discussion was provided by: Hector Isidro Arenas Neira, Ambassador of the Republic of Colombia to the Russian Federation; Irina Bakhtina, Chief Sustainability Officer at RUSAL and Deputy CEO for Sustainable Development at En+ Group; Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva; Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations; Natalia Dorpeko, Executive Director of the National Network of the UN Global Compact in Russia; and Vyacheslav Fetisov, Deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and Chairman of the All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation. Also taking part were Zakhar Azarov, Adviser to the CEO for Sustainable Development at Severstal, and Elena Feoktistova, Managing Director for Corporate Responsibility, Sustainable Development and Social Entrepreneurship at the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP). The discussion was moderated by Ivan Polyakov, Chairman of the TV BRICS International Media Network.

Participants discussed the role of the UN Global Compact in maintaining constructive international dialogue during times of global turbulence, as well as the importance of raising awareness of the sustainable development agenda. Special attention was given to media cooperation among BRICS countries, building a joint fair media space, promoting economic cooperation, and the prospects for future international media projects.

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