Russian Corporate Governance Roundtable Meeting, Moscow, Russian Federation 2-3 June 2005

The Russian Corporate Governance Roundtable meeting took place on  2-3 June 2005 in Moscow. The objective of this plenary meeting was to discuss the policy framework and practices for two priority areas identified by the Roundtable at its meeting last year: (1)  enforcement of corporate governance rules on 2 June and (2) corporate governance of state-owned enterprises on 3 June.  The key issues resulting from this discussion will be examined in-depth during 2005 and 2006 through two task forces that will respectively develop policy options papers for consideration in Russia.

Both institutional and regulatory issues were identified as weaknesses in the enforcement framework.  This includes: poor monitoring by the securities regulator, insufficient authority of the securities regulator and low levels of fines, and heavy case-load at the courts as well as lack of clarity in the law particularly on liability of company officers and board of directors.  The key challenges for improving corporate governance of SOEs in Russia include: weak SOE boards, poor transparency both of individual SOEs and of the state’s ownership policies, as well as un-equitable treatment of shareholders.

More information on the Russian Corporate Governance Roundtable

Agenda English / Russian

Synthesis Note English / Russian

June 2nd : Enforcement of Corporate Governance Rules

Background Paper: OECD Work on Corporate Governance in Russia

This note was prepared as background to a meeting of the OECD-Russia Liaison Committee meeting, to take place in Moscow on 20 June 2005: English/ Russian

Opening Remarks by Daniel Blume, Principal Administrator for Corporate Governance Outreach, OECD

PART I : Supervision and Regulatory Enforcement

Session a : Securing, maintaining and strengthening investigative power and sanctions

• Mr. Ian Mason, Head of Department, Financial Services Authority, United Kingdom  English
• Mr. Joe McCahery, Coordinator, Centre for European Policy Studies, Netherlands: English 
• Ms. Tatiana Medvedeva, Senior Legal Advisor, and Mr. Alex Timofeev, Legal Advisor, Centre for the Capital Market Development, Russia : English/ Russian version and Russian presentation

Session b : Ensuring capacity, integrity and accountability of Regulators

• Ms. Berna Collier, Commissioner, Securities and Investments Commission, Australia : English/ Russian
•  Mr. Leo Goldschmidt, Board Member, European Corporate Governance Institute, Belgium : English presentation
• Ms. Anete Pajuste, Research Associate, SITE, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden : English/ Russian 

Part II: Judicial Enforcement

Session a : Court practice - supporting effective civil and criminal enforcement

• Ms. Alexandra Makovskaya, Head of the Analytical Relations Department for Court Practice, Supreme Arbitrazh Court, Russia : English/ Russian

Session b: Ensuring Judicial Infrastructure

• Ms. Eva Thiel, Team Leader, Corporate Governance EC Project, Russia : English / Russian
• Ms. Christelle Gilles, Senior Training Expert, Assistance to the Arbitration Courts System (AACS) - EC Project, Russia : English
  

June 3rd :Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises

Introductory presentations,  Ms. Mathilde Mesnard, Administrator, Corporate Affairs Division, OECD - OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises and the OECD Comparative Report : English

Session 1: Ownership function of the state

• Ms. Anita Ryng, Director, Department of European Integration and Foreign Cooperation, Ministry of Treasury, Poland and Co-Chair of the OECD Working Group on Privatisation and Corporate Governance of SOEs : English / Russian version, English presentation
• Mr. Morten M. Kallevig, Deputy Director General, Department of Ownership, Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry, Norway : English
• Peter Dey, Partner, Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt, Barristers and Solicitors, Canada : English

Session 2: The Responsibilities of the Boards of State-Owned Enterprises

• Mr. Alex Filatov, Executive Director, Independent Directors Association, Russia : English / Russian
• Ms. Kathy Milsom, P.Eng., President and CEO, TSSA, Canada : English version / English presentation

Session 3: Transparency and Disclosure

• Ms. Julia Kotchetygova, Director, Corporate Governance Services, Standard & Poor's, Russia : English / Russian
• Mr. Anton Gazetov, Deputy Director, "Taxation and Law" Legal Center : English / Russian