On 27–29 September 2023, the Expoforum Convention and Exhibition Centre in St. Petersburg hosted the sector’s main event of the year – the Global Fishery Forum and Seafood Expo Russia, which was held for the sixth time. Once again, it brought together representatives of all fishery sectors and infrastructure from Russia and abroad.

Continued development of the industry in Russia requires all stakeholders to respond in a timely fashion to the rising challenges and to transition to an economy itself generating demand – a supply-side economy. To achieve this goal, we need to expand the fleet further and master advanced fish processing technologies, strengthen the logistics and retail infrastructure, digitalize processes, and provide HR and research support at all stages. These issues were on the agenda of the event’s plenary session and its entire business programme.

At the plenary session, experts debated sustainable development of the fishery industry and its integration into the current multipolar system of economic relations.

Session moderator Ilya Shestakov, Head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries, opened the discussion with the words: “Every year, we look at the fishery industry through the lens of changes on the global market and international relations. Rapid changes in market conditions prompt us to develop new tactics and strategies for the Russian fishery industry and to seek new ways to do so.” 

The discussants included Dmitry Patrushev, Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, Irina Zhachkina, First Deputy Chairman of the Board at Russian Agricultural Bank, Sergey Mitin, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Agricultural and Food Policy and Environmental Management, Vladimir Solodov, Governor of Kamchatka Territory, Zhang Xianliang, President of the China Overseas Fisheries Association, and Seyed Hossein Hosseini, Deputy Minister – Head of the Fisheries Organization, Ministry of Agricultural Jihad (Development) of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The plenary session was followed by a roundtable on renovation of the fishing fleet and fish processing enterprises. Representatives of the regulator and legislative authorities, United Shipbuilding Corporation, Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, shipyards, equipment manufacturers and professional associations held an open dialogue on the most relevant aspects of building and equipping the fishing fleet and processing factories of the fishery industry.

The aquaculture-related programme began on Day 2 with an international conference. In his welcome speech to the participants, Ilya Shestakov, Head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries, said that aquaculture production is expected to exceed 400 thousand tonnes this year. The volume of aquaculture production in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) increased 1.8-fold in 2017–2022. Russia is the leader in terms of production volume. Participants from Saudi Arabia, the Eurasian Economic Union and its formal bodies, as well as business and government representatives, discussed how the common market infrastructure could be used for joint development. A separate roundtable was held on practical aspects of business operations in the sector.

Its participants focused specifically on improving logistics in Russia and beyond, and on promoting fish products on the domestic and foreign markets, including in China, in order to unlock fully the industry’s manufacturing potential. 

Negotiations between fish product suppliers and representatives of retail chains and online stores were once again held at the Retail Centre. As part of the Russian Seafood Show, Russia’s best chefs offered 11 workshops on how to cook and serve dishes with cod and pollock, salmon, tuna, sablefish, crabs, shrimp, vongole, as well as broad whitefish and other northern fish species.

The Pollock Catchers Association and its colleagues presented a concept of promoting an umbrella brand for the pollock product category. Vasily Emelianenko, ambassador of the Far Eastern Pollock brand, took part in the presentation.

The Forum and Expo occupied 26,000 sqm, including 9,400 sqm of expositions.

Visitors to the event included 18,000 fishery and infrastructure experts from 85 regions of Russia and 75 other countries. The Expo included 350 exhibitors from 37 regions of Russia and 16 other countries. Additionally, official delegations of 16 Asian, African and Latin American countries visited the Forum and Expo events. A delegation from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) also participated.

The business programme included 34 events with 130 speakers.

Event partners and sponsor: Russian Agricultural Bank (Title Partner), NOREBO (Business Programme Partner), Sberbank (Sponsor Bank), Ustkamchatryba LLC (Official Partner), FOR Group (Strategic Partner), Norilsk Nickel (Partner), Voskhod Fishing Industry Holding (Partner) and K-Flot (Business Partner).