OREANDA-NEWS. June 29, 2010. A delegation of the Board of Directors of the EBRD has started a nine-day mission to Russia during which they will visit two key Russian regions and Moscow, hold talks with the government and regional authorities and meet business leaders as well as representatives of civil society, reported the press-centre of EBRD.

The mission, part of a regular series of EBRD Board consultations, will start in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk where the Board Directors will attend the opening of the Bank’s sixth regional office in Russia before heading to Moscow. Part of the group will then travel to Perm, an industrial centre at the foot of the Ural mountains.

The programme includes a series of visits to project sites involving both existing and potential EBRD clients aimed at giving the mission first-hand information about developments in what is the Bank’s largest country of operation, accounting for a third of all its investments.

The EBRD Board Directors will also hold meetings, both in Krasnoyarsk and Moscow, with various Non-Governmental Organisations in order to hear the opinions of bodies representing civil society about the main issues which concern them.

Representatives of the EBRD Board on this visit include:
Joachim Schwarzer, representing Germany
John Eyers, representing Australia, Korea, New Zealand and Egypt
James Hudson, representing the United States
Golan Benita, representing Israel, Austria, Cyprus, Malta, Kazakhstan, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Gianluca Grandi, representing Italy
Elena Kotova, representing the host nation, the Russian Federation, as well as Belarus and Tajikistan
 
The visit will end on July 5.