2015 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum

The St Petersburg International Economic Forum has come to an end. Here at RT Business Online we hope you’ve enjoyed our coverage and we hope to see you soon, as well as at next year’s event, SPIEF-2016.

Many of the Forum’s foreign participants admitted that the sanctions against Russia had caused great economic damage to the European Union, said Sergey Ivanov, the head of the Russian presidential administration.

Jack Ma, the CEO of Chinese online trading giant Alibaba, met with the founder of Russia’s Yandex internet group, Arkady Volozh, on the sidelines of the Forum to discuss possible future cooperation.

Earlier, Ma said that he was looking for Russian partners in logistics and electronic payment systems. He added that Alibaba could announce a deal on the Russian market by 2016.

The Western sanctions introduced in 2014 have a wide range of benefits, as Russian customers, who preferred foreign products, were motivated to turn to Russian industry, and therefore speed up domestic production, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told RT.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that it is essential for the China-led Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB) to be transparent, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported.

Russia is interested in the privatization of Greek assets, said Andrey Kostin, CEO of Russia’s second biggest lender, VTB. “If there will be privatization, then we could take part,” he said. Kostin added that so far Greece hasn’t asked VTB for a loan.

READ MORE: Russian-Greek relations have 'a lot of potential' – Greek Economy Minister to RT

Russian internet search engine Yandex plans to attract foreign investors for its new Turkish project, the head of the company, Arkady Volozh, said during the Forum.

"We see the Turkish project as an internal start-up and are ready to engage partners in it," he said, adding that an existing user base will make it straightforward to monetize the project.

Rosatom is ready to offer Saudi Arabia a range of nuclear energy services, which could include the construction of a nuclear power plant, supply of nuclear fuel and the construction of a research reactor unit, Rosatom chief Sergey Kirienko said.

READ MORE: Russia and Saudi Arabia ink nuclear energy deal, exchange invites

Russia’s Rosneft oil giant and Venezuela’s PDVSA have signed a memorandum to jointly develop priority projects in Venezuela, Rosneft said in a statement.

Russia sees Latin America as a priority area for expanding cooperation, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the Spanish news agency EFE.

READ MORE: Russia’s import ban means big business for Latin America