In difficult times for the industry, 72 cement plants and 18 holdings from Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and other countries delegated their representatives to the conference. The composition of the participants provided ample opportunities for fruitful work: the Government of the Russian Federation, the Legislative Assembly and the Government of St. Petersburg, the cement workers associations, the largest Russian and international cement holdings, banks, trading, engineering and transportation companies, manufacturers and suppliers of equipment, services and materials were represented for the cement industry.
Messages made at the conference comprehensively illuminated the state of affairs and current trends in the cement world, which is increasingly affected by the globalization of the economy. Suppliers of equipment and materials in their presentations covered almost all stages of production – from the quarry to quality control and packaging. Topical issues of energy saving, reducing the environmental burden, saving raw materials, optimizing the process, and ways to modernize production were considered in reports and reflected at an exhibition presented by 65 participants.
An important event of the conference was the donation of FLSmidth (Denmark) as a gift to educational institutions – the St. Petersburg Technological Institute and the Moscow Russian Technical University named after Mendeleev – a special training simulator. Such a simulator of the technological process of cement production will serve as the training of Russian specialists for modern enterprises. We are pleased that the magazine «Cement and its Application» took an active part in this project.
The Astoria Hotel, where the conference is traditionally held, created a working atmosphere conducive to business communication. The event ended with a gala dinner in the main hall of the Tauride Palace. The festival’s decoration was a concert by stage masters.
Despite natural disasters and financial and economic difficulties, PetroCem 2010 was successful, showing a high potential for the development of the cement industry in the post-Soviet space.
