The second track of educational program for professional development «GR and Lobbying in Business and Nonprofit Sector», implemented in partnership with Baikal Communications Group, took place at MGIMO School of Business and International Proficiency on October 19 – 21.

The three-day program was based on learning applied lobbying and GR-tools and technologies of interaction between business and government through the example of highly regulated and high-tech industries, companies with state participation. Theoretical and technological parts of the program contained specific cases from the practice of external experts.

The introduction into the course was made by Eduard Voytenko, CEO of Baikal Communications Group, and Andrey Lyan, Director for Public and Government Relations at Cargill in Russia. They spoke about key features of lobbying in Russia, GR tools and technologies at federal, regional levels, as well as in supranational space (EEU).

Elman Mehdiyev, Executive Vice-President of the Association of Russian Banks told in details about GR in financial and banking sector. Director for Legal Affairs and External Corporate Relations of BAT Russia Yana Guskova and Senior GR Director in Eastern Europe Region of «Baltika» (Carlsberg Group) Irina Fedorova spoke about their companies’ lobbying practices under the scrutiny of regulators and public control. They also threw light on the companies’ experience in field of risk assessment and leveling down the risks. Executive Director of International Medical Device Manufactures Association (IMEDA) Sergey Vanin spoke about the role of industry associations in the healthcare sector.

Head of the Regional Communications Department of Lukoil Vladimir Gerasimov shared the pecularities of lobbying interests of oil and gas sector in the EU and in Russia. In turn, Maxim Ignatiev, Deputy Director for Logistics of SUEK, and Maria Dronova, Director for GR and Charitable Activities of EvrazHolding, revealed the peculiarities of the regional GR in fuel and energy sector, metallurgy and mining.

Marina Amelina, GR Director of Baring Vostok investment fund, presented GR cases in IT sector and commented on the trade law (the «Yarovaya package»). Dmitry Kononov, the Head for Interaction with Federal Authorities of VimpelCom, also touched on the issue of the «Yarovaya package», and shared complicated cases from the Telecom industry regulation. Dmitry Polikanov, the President of Deafblind Support Foundation «Con-nection», spoke about real examples of working with government agencies in the field of NGOs.

In conclusion, Director for Economics, Investments and Market Regulation of Agro-industrial Complex Department at the Ministry of Agriculture of Russian Federation Anatoly Kutsenko, focused on the reverse side of the coin and explained what federal authorities expect from GR specialists by the example of agricultural industry. Artem Yulegin, the Head for Business Advocacy of EEC Business Development Department, taught a master class on «Regulatory impact assessment and other tools for interacting with the Eurasian Economic Commission as a supranational regulatory body of the EEU» based on case studies from his practice.

The audience consisted of top managers and employees of leading companies, such as Amgen, Medtronic, Uralchem, Baltika, Vostok-Service Spetskomplekt, ENERGOPROM, etc. After completing the course, participants received certificates of professional upgrading.

The advanced training program takes place twice a year. Registration for training in 2019 is open.

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