The International Hotel Investments plc (IHI) owned Corinthia Nevskij Palace Hotel in St Petersburg Russia was proud to welcome the official delegations of China and India for the city’s most important political event of the year, the G-8 Summit meeting. China and India were special invitees at the Group of Eight summit.

The Chinese Republic’s contingent was headed by the country’s President Hu Jintao, while India’s Prime Minister Singh Manmohan led his country’s delegation. Hotel general manager Gerold Held personally welcomed both dignitaries.

Already one of St Petersburg’s leading five-star hotels, the Corinthia Nevskij Palace Hotel is set to undergo a major extension and refurbishment project costing some e75 million, turning it into the city’s most prestigious hotel. The project was announced last week by IHI Chairman Alfred Pisani at a foundation stone laying ceremony at the hotel, attended by her Excellency Valentina Matvienko, Governor of St Petersburg.

IHI is a public company based in Malta with hotel investments in Lisbon, Malta, Budapest and St Petersburg. The company’s hotels are operated by Corinthia Hotels International, an associate company of IHI that operates 20 outstanding four and five-star city and resort hotels in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Libya, Malta, Portugal, Russia, The Gambia, Togo, Tunisia and Turkey.