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Ecotech is an effective international platform for the presentation of Russian and foreign innovative environmental projects and sharing experience in the development of ‘green’ technologies.

Addressing the opening of the exhibition and forum, Sergei Ivanov stressed that Ecotech offers an opportunity to showcase the best environmental technologies and innovations, discuss promising projects and establish new business and scientific contacts.

The Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office said a meeting of the State Council in late 2016 would launch the Year of the Environment, while project-related activities will take place in 2017. According to Mr Ivanov, it is impossible to solve all of Russia’s environmental problems in a single calendar year, but it is quite possible to promote a responsible attitude towards the environment on the part of the state, businesses and the public, to identify the most pressing environmental issues and to put in place mechanisms for their practical resolution, and to give a start to important environmental projects. Mr Ivanov expressed hope that as a result of the exhibition and forum, which has drawn a huge volume of proposals for the Year of the Environment, the action plan will be supplemented with new innovative ideas.

The official said the main goal of the national economy is to move away from its dependence on raw materials, while ensuring the conservation of the environment. According to Mr Ivanov, the state should provide conditions whereby it will be beneficial for businesses to use ‘green’ technologies, so that an entrepreneur who complies with environmental requirements in good faith and modernises production receives a genuine competitive advantage.

Taking care of the environment is not only the dictate of the times or some popular trend, but a condition for technological progress and the development of the national economy and the social sector; it is the shared responsibility of the present and future generations of Russian citizens and of all humankind, Mr Ivanov said.

The Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration reviewed a number of informational stands at the Ecotech exhibition. At the Far Eastern Leopards stand, Mr Ivanov spoke with students from a Moscow regional school where upon fifth-grade student Alexander Grigoryev’s initiative the Help the Far Eastern Leopard project was implemented. Mr Ivanov presented the author of the project with a certificate of appreciation and a Leopard Keeper badge, as well as a certificate for an interactive board presented to the school.