Record agreements and calls for multipolar cooperation mark SPIEF 2025: As it happened

Trade between China and Russia is growing steadily, with both countries increasingly using their national currencies instead of the US dollar, Professor Zhang Weiwei, head of the China Institute at Fudan University, has told RT.

“It’s in their common interest to vigorously develop these bilateral economic relations. Sky’s the limit – so many opportunities,” he said on the sidelines of the forum. “Most of our trade already uses our own currencies. I think more countries will follow the China-Russia example and rely less on the US dollar.”

Zhang added that Washington will ultimately “lose the trade war” launched under President Donald Trump, noting the US now depends more on China than the other way around.

Saudi Arabia will be a guest country at SPIEF 2026, organizing committee executive and presidential aide Anton Kobyakov announced. Registration for next year’s event will open this fall.

The EU will eventually resume cooperation with Russia, though the process will be slow and challenging, Federation Council Chairwoman Valentina Matvienko said on the sidelines of the forum.

“I’m sure this fever will pass, the Russophobic times will pass in European countries,” the top senator stated. “We live on the same continent — you don’t choose your neighbors. Europe’s security cannot be ensured without Russia, and a strong European economy is impossible without Russian scientific achievements.”

Matvienko added that restoring peace and stability in Europe and Eurasia is “inevitable,” as economic growth and peaceful life depend on it.

AI will “inevitably” replace workers and lead to unemployment, Sber CEO Herman Gref told RT at SPIEF 2025.

He added that society must “live with it” as “no one will be able to stop the development of these technologies anymore.”

Gref admitted he would welcome a pause in AI development, saying it brings rapid changes that people “can’t adapt to quickly enough.”

A total of 1,060 agreements worth 6.3 trillion rubles ($80 billion) have been signed at SPIEF 2025, executive secretary of the organizing committee and presidential aide Anton Kobyakov announced.

It “makes sense” for EU countries to maintain economic ties with Russia, Austrian film producer Thomas Ebner told RT.

“We’re on the same continent. We should trade and exchange with each other,” he said on the sidelines of SPIEF 2025. “One shouldn’t be afraid, but instead look to the future with confidence. Above all, we should just talk.”

Ebner added that cooperation between Russia and the EU will resume eventually, as “we would otherwise have to split the continent apart.” He urged Europeans not to be “intimidated by the news,” which often promotes an anti-Russia narrative.

“The global economy is at a turning point where no single country, regardless of its size, can control it alone,” former Indonesian Senator Dr. Zurainah Musa has told RT at SPIEF 2025.

“You need ASEAN. Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, the Philippines – we are gateways. We want to be heard, treated fairly, and seen,” she said, praising the forum for offering a platform for collaboration and shared progress.

Moscow and the world expect the new leadership of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to lift the sanctions on Russian athletes and end the “perverted experiments” in sports, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.

READ MORE: New IOC president opposes Olympic bans over involvement in armed conflicts

“It can’t go on like this,” Zakharova stated at the forum. “Some say world sport is orphaned without Russian athletes – I’d say it’s poorer and, most importantly, degraded due to repeated political and even senile blows, including gender perversions.”

She added that the issue goes beyond Russia. “Many now see this isn’t about Russia, but about the destruction of global sport. People around the world hope it won’t be turned into a field for political battles or twisted experiments.”

Kirsty Coventry is set to take office as the new IOC president on June 23.

Russia is placing its hopes on the youth as its “most valuable resource,” and will shield them from Western “liberal experiments,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said at the forum.

Speaking at a youth-focused session, Zakharova stressed that while Russia possesses vast natural, strategic, and geopolitical assets, the younger generation is the most important.

“In Russia, we bet on youth,” she said. “It’s our most valuable resource. We must not force anything on them, but explain the core moral and ethical principles – because we see what happens when a liberal dictatorship wipes out ideas of ethics, morality, and traditional values.”

The relationship between Pakistan and Russia “has moved in the right direction” over the past two decades, Pakistani Energy Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik has told RT on the sidelines of the forum, highlighting growing cooperation in the energy sector.

“There are various areas we’re working in — we’ve explored hydrocarbons potential together, and we’re looking at opportunities in mining. We’re also in talks with Gazprom and other major Russian gas exporters because of their sector expertise,” he said, adding that Islamabad is keen to involve Russia in exploring both offshore and onshore gas reserves in Pakistan.

Malik described his meeting with Gazprom and Russia’s Energy Ministry at the forum as “very fruitful,” noting that several projects are under discussion.