Association of European Businesses ANNUAL REPORT 2011 AEB ANNUAL REPORT 2011 CONTENTS Introduction 2 AEB Open events 5 AEB EuroReceptions 10 PR, Communications & Publications 12 Reports of AEB Committees, Sub-Committees and Working Groups 14 Financial statement 49 Membership 51 About the AEB 52 1 AEB ANNUAL REPORT 2011 Dear AEB Members, It is with great pleasure that the members of the opening of an AEB North-Western Regional com- Board, Council of National Representation, Auditing mittee office in St. Petersburg in 2010, alongside Commission, and Chairpersons of our committees the creation of four regional subcommittees in present to you the Annual Report of the Association that area had an extremely positive impact on the of European Businesses (AEB) for 2011. AEB’s presence in the North-Western district. The The year 2011 was marked with many achieve- AEB now supports over 150 companies with rep- ments for the Association, both internally and with resentative offices, branches or production plants regard to activities carried out on behalf of its mem- in this region. As a result of increased activities ber companies. The AEB has certainly become the among AEB member companies in the Southern strongest foreign business association in Russia, region of Russia. The Association also made a de- with a 16 year track record of effective lobbying and cision in 2011, to create a regional subcommittee networking. This year, the AEB saw an increase in in Rostov-on-Don. membership, and more particularly, of its sponsors. With an amplified focus on the Russian re- Increased sponsorship within the AEB is a welcome gions, several business missions were organised sign not only for the Association but for business in to Stavropol, Krasnodar and Voronezh – to name Russia: we believe it also to be is an indication of but a few. Also, the creation of a North-Western an overall improvement in the country’s economic Regional committee, four subcommittees and a situation. The AEB is now proud to represent the steering group, based in Saint Petersburg has led interests of over 630 members and 57 sponsors, to an increase in the number and quality of the which is the historical peak. events being held in what is fondly referred to as The backbone of our association is our commit- Russia’s northern capital. Last year, events held in tees. In 2011, the number of the AEB committees, Saint Petersburg included the European and Rus- subcommittees and working groups increased; sian Business and Second Northern Dimension Fo- now they are over 40 in number. This is also a strong rums. Both events were extremely successful. The sign that our member companies trust us to repre- AEB also had the honor of representing the voice of sent their business interest in virtually all the eco- the European businesses at the Trade Counselors nomic sectors in Russia. Currently, the AEB is the meetings in Saint Petersburg. only business association that represents almost In 2011, we continued our work on improving the all the industrial sectors through its committees. services made available to our members. Trainings Committees and working groups created in 2011 are now a constant when it comes to AEB activities. include the committee for Small and Medium-size The AEB Loyalty programme continued providing Enterprises and the Biotechnology working group. member-companies with very lucrative discounts Also, the Crop-Protection subcommittee was re- in several sectors, including the hotels and restau- structured to assume the committee status. The rants. The Association also diversified its range of 2 AEB ANNUAL REPORT 2011 our statistics to now include the car, commercial European Commission and European Parliament. vehicles, construction equipment, and crop protec- We are also pleased to announce that in April, tion sectors. 2011 we established a Belgian non-for-profit or- In all, the year 2011 was successful in terms of ganisation – “Association Internationale Sans But lobbying for the Association. In February of 2011, Lucratif” (AISBL), which will help us lobby the in- the Association, through prompt and effective lob- terests of our members in Brussels in the future. bying effected a change to the amendments to the The AEB is also an active Member of the Euro- new Federal Law on Migration with regard to the pean Business Organisations Worldwide Network, registration procedure for foreign nationals living in which comprises of organisations carrying out ac- Russia. The AEB raised its concerns in a letter to the tivities similar to those at the AEB, in other non-EU RF President, Dmitry Medvedev and participated in countries. In November 2011, the AEB CEO, Dr. the preparation of new amendments to facilitate the Frank Schauff was elected Vice-Chairman of this migration registration procedure and make it less worldwide network. We are also very active within troublesome for expatriates. Subsequently, the ini- the EU-Russia Industrialists Roundtable, where we tial amendments, which came into force on Febru- actively contribute to the work of this organisation. ary 15th, 2011, were revised, with changes being ef- This has led to the AEB’s participation in various fected on March 23rd, 2011. workshops on the Partnership for Modernisation, The AEB was also successful in preventing the organised both in Russia and Brussels. The results inclusion of restrictions on trans-border data trans- of these workshops were then recommended to fer in the Federal Law “On the National Payment the European and Russian leaders at the last EU- System” (the NPS Law). The restrictions on the Russia Summit on 15 December 2011. trans-border data transfer would have forced banks As the next pages will show, the year 2011 was and other international financial institutions to alter extremely successful. We hope that this annual or completely overhaul their current operational report will show all our members that the AEB is models, as processing or data storage for regional in fact doing its uttermost best in representing in- centres is often located outside of Russia. The law terests of its member companies; and this is a tra- could have also pushed back the development of dition we most definitely intend to continue in the electronic payments in Russia. years to come. In March, 2011, the AEB Board once again vis- ited Brussels and met with representatives of the Yours sincerely, Reiner Hartmann Frank Schauff Chairman of the Executive Board Chief Executive Officer Association of European Businesses 3 AEB ANNUAL REPORT 2011 AEB OPEN MEETINGS 2011 10. Briefing by Alexey Venediktov, Editor-in-Chief, Echo of Moscow JANUARY–DECEMBER 2011 Mass Media and Elections: Forth Power or…? Date: 10.10.2011 1. Briefing by Chris Weafer, Chief Strategist, UralSib Capital 11. Briefing by Igor Yurgens, Chairman of Russia: Invest and Modernise or Stagnate. the Board, Institute of the Contemporary Date: 15.02.2011 Development Pre-Electoral period: What is High on the Agenda? 2. Briefing by Valery Yazev, Vice-Chairman, RF Date: 26.10.2011 State Duma “Legal problems in the EU-Russia Cooperation in 12. Briefing by Mikhail Fedotov, Chairman of the the Gas Sphere”. President’s Council for Development of Civil Date: 14.03.2011 Society and Human Rights Public control as one of Russia’s Modernization 3. Briefing by Pedro Alba, World Bank Country Tools. Director and Resident Representative in the RF Date: 01.11.2011 World Bank’s Russia Economic Report # 24. Date: 31.03.2011 13. Briefing by Vladimir Yakunin, President, Russian Railways 4. AEB Conference. Russia and European Date: 10.11.2011 Investors: What’s New? ■ Foreign Investors and the Russian Market – Current Trends ■ Moscow – International Financial Center: What We have and What We Need ■ Russian Economy: External factors and Internal Reserves Date: 31.05.2011 5. Briefing by Pedro Alba, World Bank Country Director and Resident Representative in the RF World Bank’s Russia Economic Report # 25. Date: 09.06.2011 6. Briefing by Pedro Alba, World Bank Country Director and Resident Representative in the RF World Bank’s Russia Economic Report # 26. Date: 15.09.2011 7. Briefing by Odd Per Brekk, Senior Resident Representative in the RF, International Monetary Fund Growth or Stagnation? Post-Election Economic Policy Scenarios for Russia. Date: 21.09.2011 EURORECEPTIONS 8. Briefing by Sergey Sinkevich, Vice-President, Moscow Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange Norway 22nd March, 2011 “MICEX – Opportuities for Foreign Investors”. Date: 28.09.2011 France 18th May, 2011 st 9. Briefing by Igor Bunin, General Director, Center Latvia 31 May, 2011 for Political Technologies Austria 6th October, 2011 Pre-Electoral Landscape in Russia. Date: 05.10.2011 Finland 8th December, 2011 4 AEB ANNUAL REPORT OPEN EVENTS 2011 OPEN EVENTS: JANUARY–DECEMBER 2011 Briefing by Chris Weafer, Chief Strategist, UralSib Capital Russia: Invest and Modernise or Stagnate.Date: 15.02.2011 Briefing by Valery Yazev, Vice-Chairman, RF State Duma “Legal problems in the EU-Russia Cooperation in the Gas Sphere”. Date: 14.03.2011 5 AEB ANNUAL REPORT 2011 OPEN EVENTS OPEN EVENTS: JANUARY–DECEMBER 2011 AEB Conference. Russia and European Investors: What’s New? Date: 31.05.2011 Briefing by Pedro Alba, World Bank Country Director and Resident Representative in the RF World Bank’s Russia Economic Report # 25. Date: 09.06.2011 6 AEB ANNUAL REPORT OPEN EVENTS 2011 OPEN EVENTS: JANUARY–DECEMBER 2011 Briefing by Odd Per Brekk, Senior Resident Representative in the RF, International Monetary Fund Growth or Stagnation? Post-Election Economic Policy Scenarios for Russia. Date: 21.09.2011 Briefing by Sergey Sinkevich, Vice-President, Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange “MICEX – Opportuities for Foreign Investors”. Date: 28.09.2011 7 AEB ANNUAL REPORT 2011 OPEN EVENTS OPEN EVENTS: JANUARY–DECEMBER 2011 Briefing by Igor Bunin, General Director, Center for Political Technologies Pre-Electoral Landscape in Russia.