FINAL PRESS RELEASE OF ECOMONDO RUSSIA- A POSITIVE OUTCOME FOR ECOMONDO RUSSIA . MOSCOW HEADING FOR KYOTO

A Russian delegation will take part in ECOMONDO (November 5-8 2008) . Rimini, 9th April 2008 . The 2008 edition of ECOMONDO RUSSIA . ´Moscow heading for Kyoto´, which Rimini Fiera organized in the Russian capital from April 1st to 4th in collaboration with the Ministry for the Environment and Land & Sea Protection and the Emilia Romagna Regional Government, ended with a positive balance.

The exhibition, whose key players were a group of Italian companies that had the opportunity of meeting top representatives of Russian institutions from the energy system in the context of TEK 2008, the forum on energy held in the Kremlin State Building. The event was attended by approximately five thousand delegates from Russian ministries and organizations, members of the Duma and the council of federations, governors and members of state and regional administrations, managers and specialists from the most important energy companies of the Russian environment system.

Taking part in Moscow, Rimini Fiera chairman Lorenzo Cagnoni expressed his satisfaction: ´We had confirmation of a real awareness, on behalf of Russian institutions, that the issue of energy and protection of the environment must be faced systematically using avant-garde technology. Such a large country, with enormous underground resources, is examining and measuring its capabilities with scientific exactitude, showing its willingness to meet up with other nations´ know-how. The outcome was positive, as we had the confirmation that Italy and its network of companies in this sector can play an incisive role and the presence alongside us of the Italian Ministry for the Environment, represented by General Manager Corrado Clini, added further meaning to the exhibition.´

At ECOMONDO RUSSIA, Corrado Clini announced the Ministry´s agreement with the four regions of the central Urals, based in Ekaterinburg, regarding projects for reduction of emissions in the context of the protocol of Kyoto.
Numerous Italian initiatives are under way: meetings are being held with the World Bank and the Ministry of Economy of the Russian Federation (responsible for the issue of green certificates) to reach agreements regarding regulation of carbon dioxide emissions, as Russia is in the condition of being able to issue certificates on the basis of the agreements between the EU and Russia (Green Investment Scheme).
On this front, interesting opportunities are opening up for Italian companies, which at ECOMONDO RUSSIA met representatives of the Fund chaired by Kalmyk senator Kostantin Tsitsin, General Manager of the ´Fund for the support of the reform of housing utilities´, which has at its disposal large sums (over 10 billion euros) to dedicated to development projects. Russia is effectively investing a great deal in the development of energies from renewable sources and Italy can play a key role in supplying technologies and services.

The appointment with ECOMONDO RUSSIA 2008 also represented another positive step in the project for the evolution of ECOMONDO, the expo dedicated to the environment that is the key player at Rimini Fiera every autumn.

Simone Castelli, manager of the Rimini Fiera Business Unit of which ECOMONDO is part, comments, ´The direction taken through the years has managed to consolidate a very significant presence of Italian companies in Russia. TEK is the most authoritative location for networking and an opportunity for an insight on the strategies the country is preparing regarding energy and environmental sustainability. For ECOMONDO RUSSIA, this was a decisive strategic step - our participation was important and considered positively by Russian institutions and Italian companies taking part.´

Excellent feedback came from the round table organized at the Kremlin State Palace in the context of the project connected with the Utilities District promoted by Confservizi International . Italian Utilities and created to accompany Italian entrepreneurs in strategic zones of emerging markets . in this case the environment sector.

At the seminar promoted by ECOMONDO RUSSIA, participants included the most authoritative Russian exponents in the energy field and Italian personalities, such as Prof. Luciano Morselli, ECOMOND0´s scientific coordinator, who explains, ´The scientific community and management entirely assume all the strategies drawn up at European and international level, also by means of international cooperation. From the point of view of education and training, great efforts are being made to create the necessary professionalism, increasingly opening up to exchanges with European universities and research centres.´

Taking advantage of the opportunity, ECOMONDO RUSSIA also hosted the formalization of the exchange of ten students and lecturers for a short period during the next academic term, between Moscow´s State University of Environmental Engineering (Prof. Dimitry Baranov . Rector) and Rimini´s Degree Course in Chemical Technologies for the Environment and Waste Management (Prof. Luciano Morselli, Dean of the Degree Course). The occasion could be the realization of an international Winter School to be held shortly before Ecomondo 2008 and enables to take part in the various sessions of the Ecomondo conferences.

The success of the Russian edition will therefore be the reason for a further boost for the next edition of ECOMONDO (Rimini Fiera, 5-8 November 2008), as the foundations have been laid for the arrival in Italy of a visiting Russian delegation.

ECOMONDO project manager Alessandra Astolfi explains, ´While we wait to organize participation in TEK 2009, a large group of representatives of the major Russian institutions in the environmental field will attend Rimini. We are also working on the project of organizing a day entirely dedicated to Russia, precisely to put at the disposal of the largest number of Italian companies the possibility of acquiring direct information on the possibility that market offers.´