The city of Portorose (Slovenia) hosted today the 26th Presiding Committee Meeting and the 15th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the European Business Congress (EBC). The Meetings were moderated by Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and President of the EBC. Taking part in the AGM were more than 300 representatives of 85 companies and organizations from 25 OSCE member states.

The Presiding Committee reviewed the EBC operating results over the reporting period and other issues concerning its activity.

The EBC General Meeting heard and approved the Annual Progress Report for the fiscal year of 2011. It was defined that the next year's AGM would be held between May 30 and 31 in Amsterdam (the Netherlands).

In addition, consideration was given to the election of the EBC Board of Executive Directors and Presiding Committee composition. The discussions resulted in election of Alexey Miller as the EBC President.

The newly elected EBC Presiding Committee is also comprised of Harry Brekelmans, Shell's Executive Vice President (Russia), Kurt Bligaard Pedersen, Executive Vice President of Dong Energy (Denmark), Andrey Galaev, Chief Executive Officer of Sakhalin Energy (Russia), Ruslan Goryukhin, Director General of Stroygazmontazh (Russia), Yury Vodopyanov, Director General of IFC Metropol (Russia), Arunas Laurinaitis, President of Achema Group (Lithuania), Cristiano Tortelli, President and Chief Executive Officer for Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and CIS of General Electric Energy (USA).

The Conference themed “Energy Security and New Opportunities for Natural Gas” was held as part of the EBC. Alexey Miller delivered a speech at the Conference.

Background

The European Business Congress (EBC) is an international, non-governmental and non-profit organization. The EBC comprises 133 members from 25 OSCE member states including such prominent banks and corporations as Gazprom, ExxonMobil, Daimler, Siemens, Shell, ConocoPhillips, Total, Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank, J.P. Morgan Bank International, Alcatel, Wintershall, E.ON Ruhrgas, GDF SUEZ, Eni, Enel, BNP Paribas, UBS, Royal Boskalis Westminster, The Royal Bank of Scotland, KPMG, Societe Generale, Statoil, MND, MAN Ferrostaal, DONG Energy, Sakhalin Energy, Renaissance Capital and others.

The EBC's supreme body is the General Meeting. The 45-member Presiding Committee exercises general management. The EBC President is Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee. The 9-member Board of Executive Directors is responsible for executive management.

The EBC deals with economic cooperation issues in Europe and brings forward proposals for debottlenecking and building a safe and favorable environment for entrepreneurial activities. The EBC operates through seven Working Committees for: Energy; Industry and Construction; Law, Banking and Finance; Information and Communications; Ecology and Healthcare; Human Resources, Education and Science; Business Security.

Between 1998 and 2011 The EBC held 14 General Meetings.

The EBC continues implementing a number of high-priority social projects. 7 of these projects are underway now.