September 2, 2019
Location: Russia, Moscow
Organizers: RUEF, RSPP

October 2 was the first Russian Forum of Associations. The Forum was organized by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the Russian Union of Exhibitions and Fairs (RUEF), with the support of the "Locomotives of Growth" project of the United Russia party. The technical organizers and general sponsors of the project are the Group of companies RussCom IT, Beauty Online and the company EventBank Rus.
The event was attended by representatives of more than 100 Associations, departmental institutions and various public authorities, representing more than 140,000 manufacturers of goods and services. Forum speakers were Oleg Bocharov (Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation), Igor Zhuk (Senior Vice-President of Russian Export Center JSC (REC), Kirill Ilyichev (General Director of the Moscow Export Center), Denis Kravchenko (Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Economic Policy, Industry, Innovative Development and Entrepreneurship of the State Duma of the Russian Federation), Alexander Shokhin (president of the RSPP), representatives of the German associations AUMA (Association of the German Trade Fair Industry) and VDMA (Verband Deutscher Maschinen und Anlagenbau, Mechanical Engineering Industry Association), leaders of leading Russian associations.

The moderator of the discussion was Sergey Alexeev (President of RUEF, Honorary President of the Global Association of Exhibitions UFI, Chairman of the RSPP Commission on Exhibition Activities).

All forum delegates noted that the presence of powerful industry associations develops and structures the economy, is an effective catalyst for the relevant industry segments of industry, trade and services. Developed associations are an important element of interaction between industry communities and the state.

As a result of the discussion, a number of pain points and problems existing in the life of Russian associations were noted, and ways to solve them were outlined. A separate block of the discussion was the congress and exhibition events (CEE). Speakers noted that the number and format of the CEE should be determined by enterprises whose representatives (visitors and exhibitors) are the main target audience of this marketing channel. The organization of events conducted with the active participation of leading industry associations makes them a much more effective tool for promoting goods and services. According to the data presented in the reports on the forum, industry exhibitions generate up to 2% of our country's GDP.