On November 14, CIPE held a one-day seminar outside of Moscow on corporate governance. The seminar brought together some 20 participants representing two groups: regional chamber of commerce leaders (as well as several staff members of the national chamber), and leaders of Russian corporate governance not-for-profit organizations. Previously the chamber leaders had approached CIPE for training on corporate governance. These chamber leaders recognized the importance of corporate governance for their work, and wanted to learn more.

This seminar enabled these chamber leaders to learn first-hand about corporate governance from Russian experts on the subject. The seminar succeeded in mixing two networks that CIPE has developed chambers and corporate governance organizations.

The Chamber leaders asked a number of pragmatic questions, including the following:

• Who proposes and recruits independent directors: shareholders or management?
  
  
• Can an independent director own shares? If so, is there a limit or cap?
  
  
• If one group of shareholders supports the candidacy of an independent director, is he or she really independent?
  
  
• How can the enormous amount of cash that citizens have stashed under their mattresses--which was estimated at $70 billion by a seminar participant--be mobilized for investment? Likewise, how can Russian money that has been sent overseas be attracted back to Russia for investments?
  
  
• What is the Russian Chamber's niche in corporate governance? How can the chambers undertake a role that would not duplicate that of the Federal Commission on the Securities Market (FCSM)?

These questions led to a lively discussion with the corporate governance experts on key themes of corporate governance.

Speakers | Agenda