On the day of the grand opening of the 14th Congress of the Russian Geographical Society in St. Petersburg in the Small Hall of the headquarters of the RGS, the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal presented the exposition of the three-year expedition of the “Mir Subs on Lake Baikal”. The President of RGS Sergei Shoigu, the Governor of St. Petersburg, Valentina Matvienko, members of the Board of Trustees of the RGO, the delegates and guests of the congress were shown the exhibition. During the familiarization with the exhibits of FPLB, a bottle with deep Baikal water has been presented to the Vice-Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schroeder, who highly appreciated the international significance and scientific achievements of the “Mir Subs on Lake Baikal” Expedition.
During the first session of the Congress, dedicated to 165th anniversary of the RGS, the Prime Minister, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the RGS, Vladimir Putin, stressed that, "the Jubilee Year for the RGS was a time for rebirth. First of all, I’m talking about the revival of the content of the RGS mission, its practice, the founders of the Company identified its main purpose as the "cultivation of the geography of Russia", and geography in the broadest sense, including culture, traditions, history and wildlife." Welcoming messages were also made by the President of RGS Sergei Shoigu, President of FPLB Chilingarov, etc.