From 27th to 31st October 2020 the fifth advanced training program “GR and Lobbying in Business and Nonprofit Sector” has been successfully held under the auspices of the Russian lobbying company Baikal Communications Group in partnership with the MGIMO School of Business and International Proficiency.

All MGIMO Graduate Certificates have been awarded by Mr. Eduard Voytenko, Academic Director of the advanced training program as well as CEO of Baikal Communications Group. At the graduation ceremony, Eduard Voytenko highlighted that it was the only advanced training program in the domain of GR&Lobbying in the Russian Federation, predicated upon the principle “practitioners for practitioners”.

The specific feature of the fifth graduate course is that the advanced training program was efficiently extended from 4 to 5 days and, in its turn, comprised 50 academic hours of studying the approaches and strategies to promote the interests of for-profit and non-profit organizations through the deep engagement with public authorities. Besides, the GR-advanced training program targeted at technologies and instruments for better and more effective communication between Business/NGOs and Government, using the demonstrative cases, derived from a number of industries, including the real economy and nonprofit sector.

Lectures and workshops for attendees were delivered by CEO of Baikal Communications Group Mr. Eduard Voytenko, state officials, public activists, and executive management of Russian and international companies. Among them were the following high-ranking professionals: Russian Corporate Affairs Lead for Cargill, Inc. Mr. Andrey Lyan, President of the Union of Producers of soft drinks and mineral waters Mr. Maxim Novikov, Deputy Head of the Executive Committee of the All-Russia People’s Front Mr. Dmitry Polikanov, Director of Legal Affairs and Government Relations for Saint-Gobain Mr. Rafael Zohrabyan, President of the National Association of Professional Collection Agencies – NAPCA and Head of the Board of the Self-Regulatory Organization “Microfinance and Development” Mr. Elman Mekhtiyev, Managing Director of the National Union of Milk Producers “Souzmoloko” Mr. Artyom Belov, Director of Federal Government Relations Department for X5 Retail Group Mr. Stanislav Bogdanov, Head of Government Relations for JSC “Cordiant” Mr. Anton Akimov, Director of Government Relations and Market Access for CJSC BIOCAD Mr. Alexey Torgov, Senior Government Relations Director in Eastern Europe for Baltika Breweries/part of Carlsberg Group Ms. Irina Fedorova, Director of the Self-Regulatory Organization “Union of Dietary Supplements Producers” Mr. Alexander Zhestkov, Head of Government Relations for Skyeng Mr. Makar Goncharov, Head of the Law Section of the Russian newspaper “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” Mr. Alexander Moskovkin, Senior Manager of Foreign Public Affairs for PJSC “Lukoil” Ms. Vitaliya Tsarik, Head of Government Relations for PJSC “Fortum” Mr. Alexander Pavlenko, Director of Government Relations and Charity Activity for EVRAZ Plc. Ms. Maria Dronova, Government Relations and Policy Director for Russia & CIS for Cisco Systems Inc. Ms. Anna Smirnova, Director of Government Relations for Alibaba.com Mr. Sergey Lebedev, Corporate Relations Manager in Russia for Diageo Plc. Ms. Elena Ushanova, Director for Legal Affairs and External Corporate Relations for British American Tobacco Russia Ms. Yana Guskova and Head of the Entrepreneurship Advocacy Section at the Department for the Development of Entrepreneurship of the Eurasian Economic Commission Mr. Artyom Yulegin.

Among attendees were state ministerial officials of the Russian Federation, managers of educational and non-profit organizations as well as the executive management and managing staff of a number of for-profit organizations: Baltika Breweries, ESforce Holding, Ctrl2Go, Boehringer Ingelheim, “Schneider Electric” JSC, Baikal Communications Group, The Lake Baikal Foundation for Environmental Applications and Research, British American Tobacco, MGIMO-University, TASS-Agency, Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia and others. In total, 21 professionals graduated from the advanced training program.

The advanced training program “GR and Lobbying in Business and Nonprofit Sector” is to be held twice a year. Registration for the sixth graduate course in 2021 is still open.

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