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"Competition in Russia: how to create favourable climate for business?" conference took place 26 November 2010. The Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation and the Government of Moscow were hosting the event in cooperation with VEGAS LEX that provided organizational and legal support.  The conference brought together representatives of the Presidential Executive Office and the Government of Moscow, delegates from a number of Ministries and regional authorities, entrepreneurs from Russia and representatives of foreign companies and banks, as well as leading experts from public organisations.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Igor Shuvalov, the Mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin, the Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Elvira Nabiullina and the Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Alexei Likhachev were the key speakers at the conference.

During this conference the work was organized in non-traditional for such event format: the audience interacted and brainstormed in the panel groups. Alexander Sitnikov, Managing Director and Partner of VEGAS LEX, led the session titled "Federal agenda: Russia as a common competitive zone".  Alexander said, "The complex task of the competition development in the regions should be solved by the combined efforts of the federal and regional authorities as well as business. One of the main tools for the creation of a viable economic zone is sound legal environment."  Alexander pointed out that the existing legislation should be timely updated, the enforcement and judicial practice should build favourable framework for the business development and should provide legal support for the fair market players.

Speaking at the conference, Elvira Nabiullina emphasized, "According to the reports on Global Competition from the World Economic Forum, Russia takes 102^nd place out of 133 in respect to the level of the competitive intensity in commercial market.  At the same time there were some improvements related to that sphere: the time period necessary for the endorsement of construction documentation went from 704 days to 540 days."

Mr. Sergey Sobyanin addressed to the operations of eighty Moscow spontaneous markets and to the fact that 70% of transport services are illegal as an example of wild competition and considered that to be a real challenge for the civilized business.

The panel discussions were generated by Evgeni Primakov, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Alexander Shokhin, President of The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE), Igor Artemyev, Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service and by other prominent political and public figures, representatives of major Russian and foreign companies who deliberated on federal and regional corporate aspects of competition in Russia, Russian business climate in the global context and the influence of the regional protectionism.  The speakers also attracted attention to the process of red tape barriers elimination in the economical sphere and regional economic cooperation.

For further information regarding the Conference or advice on Competition issues, please refer to Alexander Sitnikov, Managing Director and Partner of VEGAS LEX at sitnikov@vegaslex.ru.