December 15-16, 2020, the Russian University of Cooperation acted as a large-scale platform for the International Scientific and Practical Conference Cooperation and Sustainable Development.

Welcoming words were delivered by: Chairman of the Council of the Central Union of the Russian Federation Dmitry Lvovich Zubov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Central Union of Russia Vitaly Aleksandrovich Brodsky, Rector of the Russian University of Cooperation Alsu Rustemovna Nabieva.

In the words of each speaker one could hear about a new stage in the development of the cooperative movement and its digitalization.

The executive director of the Pellervo Cooperation Center (Finland) Sami Karkh, the rector of the Siberian University of Consumer Cooperation Bakaitis Valentina Ivanovna and the rector of the Belarusian Trade and Economic University of Consumer Cooperation were also given a welcoming speech.

The moderator of the plenary session was Olga Kaurova, Vice-Rector for Research Work of the Russian University of Cooperation.

Against the backdrop of the outbreak of the crisis in 2020, sustainable development is especially needed, and this conference is designed to show the importance and significance of cooperation to achieve it in Russia and the world. The International Scientific and Practical Conference Cooperation and Sustainable Development covers the following topical issues:

- responsible cooperation of entrepreneurship based on environmental and socially oriented clusters;

- advanced technologies in the cooperative sector of the economy;

- sustainable development of territories based on the cooperation of enterprises as part of special economic zones;

- innovations and their contribution to sustainable development: prospects for cooperation in the form of technology parks and innovation networks;

- public-private partnership as the basis for sustainable economic development;

- international cooperation in the field of sustainable development: exchange of knowledge, information, technologies;

-export cooperation and its importance for sustainable development.

The conference aroused great interest among the scientific community, scientists from such countries as the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Republic of Iraq, the Republic of Cuba, the Republic of Finland, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan take part .

This year, more than 500 scientists took part in the preparation of scientific articles that will be published as a collective scientific monograph in one of the world's leading scientific publishing houses Springer (Germany).