The III Global Fishery Forum and International Exhibition of Fish Industry, Seafood and Technology, also known Seafood Expo Russia, is underway in St. Petersburg.

Russia's largest fisheries event brings together more than 300 companies from 30 regions of Russia and 25 countries – 34 percent more than in 2018, with more than 20 foreign delegations visiting the event.

Besides Russia, there are national expositions from Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Morocco, Turkey, China and Spain.

During the opening ceremony speech, Dmitry Patrushev, minister of agriculture of Russia, announced an ambitious plan for the country to become a world leader in more than catching fish.

“Russia faces an ambitious task - not only to become a leader in catching aquatic bioresources, but also to become a leading manufacturer and supplier of fish products," he said.

According to Patrushev, large-scale state financial support is provided to reach the goal, and production volumes are increasing annually. In 2019, Russia will spend around RUB 300 million (€4.2 million/$4.7 million), according to Russian fishery agency, Rosrybolovstvo.

Deputy minister of agriculture of Russia and head of Rosrybolovstvo, Ilya Shestakov underlined ambitious projects for the modernization of the domestic fishing fleet and onshore fish processing infrastructure.

“Currently, there are 69 agreements, signed by Rosrybolovstvo for the construction of 43 fishing vessels and 26 onshore processing plants through the state investment fishing quota program”, Shestakov said.

“The whole value of investment amounts to around RUB 188 billion (€2.6 billion/$2.9 billion)," he said.

The seafood expo features discussion of the most pressing topics, such as digitalization of industry, research and development of the Arctic and Antarctic, efficient use of aquatic bioresources, the specifics and capitalization of the fishing business, creation of efficient distribution chains, the role of marketing in shaping demand, and development of aquaculture in the world and in Russia.

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Russian leaders outline ambitious growth plans at opening of seafood expo