MOSCOW, May 21 (RIA Novosti) – This year’s discussion at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) is expected to be more animated than previous sessions and the quality of the program will not be affected by the refusal of top officials of several foreign companies to attend, a member of the forum’s organizing committee said.

"In terms of program quality, in my opinion, it is more interesting than last year,” Deputy Minister of Economic Development Sergei Belyakov said.

“We have an artificial problem that due to some participants not coming, the debate on certain issues is supposed to be a failure. That is incorrect, 30 people have refused to come, of which 20 did so for reasons related to the pressure [from the US authorities], and only 15 of them are representatives of American business," Belyakov told RIA Novosti.

"A total of 6,500 participants have decided to attend the forum, including important representatives of even those companies whose top officials chose not go, so we can confidently say that there are no risks for the program and the discussion there," the deputy minister said.

The current economic and geopolitical situation makes the discussion about trust and the ways of earning and expressing it a very relevant and interesting one, Belyakov noted.

"The situation in the economy and the geopolitical sphere would make this topic very popular. In this regard, the quantity and the quality of the participants is the best proof. Over 70 percent of businessmen who are coming to the forum are representatives of European, American and Canadian companies," he said.

Russia's interest in the Asia-Pacific region is not directly linked to a cooling of relations with the West, Belyakov said, adding that in recent years Russia has increased its attention toward the Asian market, which is becoming a driver of the global economy.

Russian authorities will not follow the path of their US and European colleagues, throwing obstacles in the way of foreign investors. On the contrary, the investors will be provided with full support for the sake of the business climate in Russia.

The ministry also predicted that galloping capital flight from the country will soon stabilize, as entrepreneurs will soon understand that their negative expectations have nothing to do with reality.

Last week, the Ministry of Economic Development lowered its forecast for the net outflow of capital from the country this year down to $90 billion from $100 billion. In the first quarter of 2014, the Russian economy lost over $60 billion due to capital flight.