Plenary sessions of Eurasian Fifth Forum METEX 2003 start in London

Events in the context of the Eurasian Fifth International Metal Trade, Mining and Investment Forum METEX 2003 start in London on Tuesday.

As RIA Novosti was told in the organising committee of the forum, the opening ceremony of the forum and the first plenary meetings will take place today.

The head of the London Metal Exchange, Simon Hill, will deliver a speech of welcome at the ceremony.

Reports at the plenary sessions of the conference on Tuesday will be made by Leonid Shevelyov, the head of the department of innovations and investments of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Chris Beaman, senior adviser of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and top managers of Russian and foreign metal companies.

Speeches and discussions will be devoted to global tendencies in the world metal industry, to prospects of the development of this industry in Russia and the CIS countries, as well as to separate specialised aspects of this industry.

The main events of the forum will take place in the prestigious London conference centre One Whitehall Place from October 14 to 16.

The organiser of the forum is the Association of the Leading Entrepreneurial Initiative based in London, in the context of the week of the events organised by the London Metal Exchange.

The day before, the foreign guests visited the Corus Scunthorpe Steel Works near the town of York. They met with the management of the Works and acquainted themselves with the production process.

The conference will be attended by about 200 representatives of the metal industry, mainly from the CIS countries, including high ranking members of the managing staff of such enterprises as Severstal, RusAl, Sual Holding, Norilsk Nickel, AvtoVAZ and a number of other firms and companies from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, the United States, Europe and other countries.

Apart from that, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, several big international commercial banks and audit companies have announced their participation in the forum.

The state and government structures are also sending their participants to the forum. They are the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation , the Ministry of Industrial Policy of Ukraine and the Department of Commerce of the United States.

According to the organisers of the METEX 2003, "this forum is one of the key international events that would contribute to the development of a positive image and the role of the products and metal exporters from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.