Officials and business representatives from both countries convened for the Regional Forum, which focused on innovative development this time. On June 28, 2024, the state-run news agency BelTA reported on the event's outcomes on June 28, 2024, attributing the following quote to Chair Kochanova:
“The Forum this year has surpassed all previous records in terms of contract values. We approached the line of more than 1.1 billion Belarusian rubles, or 30 billion Russian rubles [almost $350 million — ed.]. More than 250 documents were signed on the sidelines of the Forum.”
Another state TV channel Belarus-1 disseminated the same information without citing Kochanova.
However, according to actual data, this is not a record-breaking result but rather an eight-year low. In 2023, at a similar forum held in Ufa City, Russia, the number of contracts signed was almost four times higher. Kochanova stated at that time:
“Contracts worth approximately 110 billion Russian rubles have been signed.”
In 2022, contracts worth $1 billion were signed, followed by $800 million in 2021, and $700 million in 2020. The total sum of signed contracts in those years was higher than in the current year, even extending back to 2017 when it reached $450 million.