Mar 01, 2011: AmCham Russia Weekly Bulletin: March 1, 2011

AmCham Announces Joe Biden as Keynote Speaker for Investment Conference
 
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will deliver a major economic and foreign-policy speech on U.S.-Russia relations at the 11th Annual Investment Conference on March 10. This year’s conference will focus on sustaining business growth through the drive to modernize Russia’s economy. Leading experts will discuss how businesses can benefit from Russia’s modernization and innovation drive, as well as how to tap business opportunities in the push to make Moscow an international financial center.
 

National Payment System Discussion Scheduled
 
In response to a letter from the AmCham President to the RF President’s Chief-of-Staff expressing the concern of AmCham financial companies about the Duma draft bill restricting the cross-border flow of financial data, AmCham met last Tuesday with the Presidential Administration, the Russian Bank Association, the Duma Committee Chair on the Financial Market, and representatives of the telecom sector, which also expressed concern. The meeting was chaired by the RF President’s aide, Arkady Dvorkovich. As a follow-up to this meeting, AmCham has requested an urgent meeting this week with Vladislav Reznik, Chairman of the State Duma Financial Market Committee, to continue work on amending the current draft.

IT Academy Initiative Group Meets
 
Last Monday the IT Academy initiative group of the AmCham St. Petersburg Regional Office met as a follow-up to the latest IT Committee meeting.

Human Resources Committee Meeting
 
On Tuesday the AmCham HR Committee met for presentations by Valery Getmanenko (Employee Tax, Compensation, and Benefits Lawyer, Baker & McKenzie), Anastasia Prokudina (Personnel Coordinator, Tesco Corporation), and Sergei Makeev (Senior Manager, Ernst & Young), who discussed the new category of highly-qualified specialists and the new enrollment procedures, effective February 15, under the new immigration law.
 

Environment, Health & Safety Committee Meeting
 
Also last Tuesday, the Environment, Health & Safety Committee of the AmCham St. Petersburg Regional Office met to discuss the main provisions of Federal Law No.123 outlining technical regulations for fire safety demands, with a presentation by Svetlana Kubassova (Independent Fire Union Fenix +)

Customs & Transportation Committee Meeting
 
On Thursday the AmCham Customs & Transportation Committee in St. Petersburg met for a presentation by Sergey V. Berezin, the head of St. Petersburg Customs.

Human Resources Committee Meeting
 
Also on Thursday, the AmCham HR Committee in St. Petersburg met to discuss labor market demand for blue collar workers and highly-qualified production personnel, with presentations by Olga Chebotkova (TRANSEARCH) and Ekaterina Kol’tsova (Kelly Services).