World Economic Forum criticized in the Swiss national media. Since the annual meeting in January 2003 in Davos, an "Open Forum Davos", co-organized by the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches, is held concurrently with the Davos forum, opening up the debate about globalization to the general public. The Open Forum has been held in the local high school every year, featuring top politicians and business leaders. It is open to all members of the public free of charge. The annual meeting of the forum also has been decried as a "mix of pomp and platitude" and criticized for moving away from serious economics
St. Petersburg International Economic Forum Anton Troyanov. Alexander Stuglev's post also means he is automatically included in the Organizing Committee. In the same year, St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko signed a resolution "On conducting the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum", which specified the main points of cooperation between the city, the Forum Organizing Committee, and the SPIEF Foundation, and established the Coordination Committee. In May 2012, the post of Chair of the SPIEF Organizing Committee went to the new Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Andrey Belousov. In 2012, SPIEF was held on June 21—23. The structure of the programme was built