CIS Business Summit to Convene in France in October

An international business summit will convene in the French town of Evian near Lake Geneva. Discussed will be the WTO membership of CIS states and the likely consequence of it for the national economies of these states and entrepreneurs. The summit will be officially opened on October 1. Its participants will be addressed by the co-chairmen of plenary sessions, including Mike Moore, the WTO Director General and Arkady Volsky, Chairman of Russia's Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. The opening speech will be said by the WTO Governor-Elect Dr. Supachai Panichpakdi.

Discussed at the summit will be economic pros and contras of CIS countries' membership in the WTO, the possible schedules of their joining the organisation and the development of product niches on international markets.

The plenary session over, the participants will attend roundtables on various problems such as those of mining, metallurgical, transportation, food and agricultural industries, communications, energy, oil and gas, insurance, etc. Before the summit closes, its participant should pass of a number of memoranda.

The annual business summits are normally attended by about 300 top officers of the largest national and international companies and organisations of the region. One of its principal objectives is a professional discussion concerning the key problems of the development of exports, imports and investment-related activities.