Beyrer in St. Petersburg: important to sustain dialogue with Russian partners

“Despite current political challenges, which we cannot overlook, the EU and Russia remain partners and should find ways to cooperate on issues of common interest”, Markus J. Beyrer, Director General of BusinessEurope, stated in the context of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on 2 June 2017. Talking during the high-level panel “Europe in the crossroads: risks and opportunities”, Beyrer gave a positive perspective highlighting successes like long-term peace and the single market, that had a tremendously positive impact on EU citizens in the past decades. He also pointed to challenges that still lie ahead of us. To be able to cope with them, he underlined the importance of a renewed industrial policy, an effective trade policy and a strong foreign policy, particularly with countries in our neighbourhood.