The Congress was opened by a plenary meeting where the organizers, members of the Supervisory Board and the Partners of the Forum have greeted the participants and outlined the main directions of work.
Mikhail Kelim, chairman of the overseas property committee of Saint-Petersburg and the Leningrad Region Realtors Association,

Prian.ru project manager, was the first to address the audience.

On behalf of the Forum organizers, Consul Generalof theKingdom of SpaininSt. Petersburg, Mr. Francisco Pascual de la Parte, has welcomed all the participants. He noted that Spain has become a country most demanded by foreign property buyers. To a certain extent this is reasoned by large discounts on property which sometimes reach 40%, and the affordability of Spanish mortgages. According to Mr. Pascual de la Parte, the crisis has had a positive impact on national property market, and filtered out all the “one-day companies”.of thein Mr. Francisco Pascual de la Parte, has welcomed all the participants. He noted that Spain has become a country most demanded by foreign property buyers. To a certain extent this is reasoned by large discounts on property which sometimes reach 40%, and the affordability of Spanish mortgages. According to Mr. Pascual de la Parte, the crisis has had a positive impact on national property market, and filtered out all the “one-day companies”.

Another welcome speech was conducted by the Consul General of Turkey in Saint Petersburg, Mehmet Chinar. He said that the Turkish legislation includes effective laws that significantly simplify the procedure of buying local property for foreigners, and has briefly described the details of these procedures.

The next speaker was the Consul for Economic Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany in St. Petersburg, Max von Hahn. He has pointed out that 2009 is the year of crisis, but despite this, the INFOREAL Forum has been held for the second time, which indicates the vivid interest of Russian buyers in foreign property. In addition, Mr. von Hahn has stated that German property market is stable and attractive for investors.

After that Grigoriy Poltorak, president-elect of Russian Guild of Realtors, the head of “BEST-Nedvizhimost” company has addressed the participants. According to him, nowadays Russians are not less interested in buying property abroad, than in the acquisition of suburban properties located in Russia, he has also claimed to be pleased to see the high day of the foreign property market in Russia.

Besides that, the participants of the Forum were addressed by the representatives of INFOREAL general sponsors – CEO, Spanish developer company Runiga SL, Ruslan Gavrilov, and the head of St. Petersburg office of the Cheda company - Natalia Zolototrubova.

The plenary meeting was continued by the promotional director of the Group of Companies “Bulletin of Real Estate” and the president of FIABCI Russia, Tatyana Rodionova.

The session was completed by Mikhail Kelim’s report. He has highlighted that Russians are interested in foreign property market. Along with a soaring number of buyers and growth of market activity the level of competition also increases, which will positively affect its future development. “The age of budgets in the competitive struggle is long gone, the time of technology and knowledge has come on the market”, Mr. Kelim emphasized, “The INFOREAL Forum is the platform on which you can exchange the accumulated technologies and knowledge and develop the new ones”