Head of Telenor Group met with Russian President at St. Petersburg Economic Forum
Last week, Telenor Group CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas and Ole Bjørn Sjulstad, Head of Telenor Russia participated at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. During 3 hectic days, Baksaas met with the Russian President, business leaders, state officials and press.
From left: Ole Bjørn Sjulstad, Head of Telenor Russia, Jon Fredrik Baksaas, Telenor Group CEO and Alexander Izosimov, CEO of VimpelCom Ltd.
Presidential Round Table
The most important event on Baksaas’ agenda was a closed-door meeting hosted by the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to which a handful of foreign business leaders were invited to discuss innovations and modernization of the Russian economy.
Meetings with high-ranking officials
In an exclusive meeting with the Russian Minister of IT and Telecommunications Igor Shegolev the Telenor delegation shared its experience in the area of mobile financial services.
Baksaas also attended a World Economic Forum breakfast meeting during his visit to St. Petersburg together with the likes of Klauss Schwab – WEF’s Executive Chairman, the Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, and Russian former Economics Minister German Gref, now Chairman of the country’s largest state-owned bank Sberbank.
Telenor’s officials also conducted meetings with CEO of VimpelCom Ltd. Alexander Izosimov and General Director of VimpelCom Russia, Elena Shmatova.
Panel Session on Future of Telecoms
Jon Fredrik Baksaas was one of the key speakers at a panel session called “The Future of Telecoms: Bleak or Bright?” alongside representatives of VimpelCom Ltd., MTS, Vodafone, CISCO, Research In Motion and Google to mention a few.
“We are all part of the same ecosystem, and the challenge for the operators is to see continued steady revenue being generated in order not to reduce future investments in an infrastructure that must meet increased demands of bandwidth and mobility,” Baksaas said.
Media-friendly
In his tight schedule Baksaas also found time to give interviews to Reuters TV, the Moscow Times, Dow Jones and Russian telecoms publishing house ComNews.
During his talks with the journalists Baksaas admitted to being a long-term fan of the St. Petersburg Forum, visiting it for the 7th or 8th time. “It’s one of those rare occasions where you can easily meet with both state officials and business people in a relaxed atmosphere,” he said.