On January 24, experts discussed the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia at the panel session “It’s More Than Just Football: Realizing the Opportunities of World Cup 2018” (the full video here). Shlomo Weber indicated that the World Cup would have different economic impacts on different regions. “I’m not worried about Moscow, everything will be fine here. However, the World Cup matches will be played in 12 venues located in 11 cities, and the question is how this event would affect them all. The richer a region is, the easier it is to gain some economic benefits from such international events,” Professor Weber said.
NES rector and other participants of the panel session pointed out that the World Cup has not always been economically successful: for example, large stadiums, which were built for the tournament in Greece and South Africa, were later deserted. Although Professor Weber highlighted, that infrastructure was only one of the three main economic impacts of the World Cup. The second one is its influence on football industry and economics. The third one is socioeconomic factor. People, especially young, will become interested in sports and in particular football. Professor Weber also presented the second international conference on the Economics of Football, which would be held in Moscow during the FIFA World Cup on July 9-11, 2018.
On January 25, Professor Weber took part in the panel “Russia–USA Bilateral Relations One Year on” (the full video here). Professor Weber was cautiously optimistic at this session. “As a NES rector I can say, that number of exchange students is increasing. More US students are coming to Russia, and our students want to study in the USA,” Professor Weber said. He also pointed out, that Russia-USA relations were going through a difficult period, but both countries should develop cooperation, for example, in education and culture.
The 48th World Economic Forum brought together over 3,000 participants from more than 110 countries. The theme of the Annual Meeting 2018 was Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World.
