CIPE has teamed up with the OECD and the World Bank to co-sponsor a series of Corporate Governance Roundtables for Russia. Drawing on the OECD Corporate Governance principles, the roundtables seek to build sound corporate governance practices in Russia.

Two conferences in 2000 focused on such issues as property rights enforcement, transparency and disclosure, accounting and auditing, enforcement of minority shareholders rights, and preventing expropriation and abusive self-dealing.

Here, too, CIPE emphasized a grass-roots, regional approach. CIPE's contribution has been to make the discussion more inclusive by sponsoring the participation of Russians.

In November 2000, CIPE sponsored 11 Russian participants, representing regional grass-roots business associations and shareholder rights organizations, national corporate governance organizations, and the Internet news media.

At the February 2000 roundtable, which drew more than 100 participants from Russia and the West, CIPE invited 14 people throughout Russia (plus several more in Moscow itself). CIPE sponsored the participation of these regional leaders, who represent regional shareholder rights organizations, local chambers of commerce and industry, and the business community.

Willard Workman, Vice-President of CIPE and also Vice President, International Division, US Chamber of Commerce, traveled to Russia to participate in this roundtable. He chaired a panel on Protecting the Integrity of the Market.

At both roundtables, CIPE identified and sponsored the participation of Dan A. Konigsburg, a senior analyst at Institutional Shareholder Services. Mr. Konigsburg spoke on a panel on General Shareholder Meetings and Voting Procedures.

CIPE Senior Program Officer Stephen Deane conducted a break-out session with the regional leaders on further developing CIPE's corporate governance programs in Russia. They made a number of recommendations, including building coalitions among grass-roots groups and working with companies to adopt codes of conduct.

CIPE's Deane summarized these remarks in a wrap-up session that concluded the two-day conference in February. He also described grass-roots initiatives at the November roundtable.