RSPP to chair B20

Starting December 2012, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) will be in the chair of В20, an informal union of the world’s leading business associations collaborating with each other with a view to sustaining a productive dialogue between the business community and the G20 political leadership.

Ever since its first convention on the sidelines of the 2009 G20 Summit in London, B20 has been involved in a vast variety of activities tackling issues that are equally sensitive for global leaders and the business community. The conclusions and specific proposals emanating from B20 dedicated task forces were duly revealed during the subsequent G20 summits in Toronto, Seoul, Cannes and Los Cabos. The decision to establish B20 Coalition followed in 2012.

As per the general consensus of the B20 Coalition, RSPP has now taken up the torch from the Mexican business community. The Russian President Vladimir Putin has also delegated to RSPP the management of all the В20 public events.

RSPP assigns high priority to its new mission. As Mr. Putin pointed out, “Russia’s G20 presidency will help member countries team up to achieve their common goals, i.e. resolve the most pressing challenges of the global economy and produce sustained economic development for the benefit of the global community; it will also help raise living standards of millions of people”.

“G20 presidency constitutes a substantial opportunity for Russia to expand its role in the global economic and financial processes and help secure sound positions for the future”, said the President of RSPP Alexander Shokhin.

Russian businesses, in cooperation with B20 top business associations, will take on a major role in working out and submitting to G20 leaders proposals for economic growth and job creation, financial stabilization and energy sustainability, international trade facilitation, investment cooperation and anti-corruption measures.

Russia is to give special prominence to supporting the growth of real-sector economy and modernization of national systems of government bonds and sovereign debt management.

The active involvement of Russia’s foremost companies, its business community in general and its B20 partners in the process of elaboration of specific proposals relating to all the above topics will provide continuity with the agenda of the past summits and bring new issues under the spotlight of the developing dialogue between the business community and the G20 leaders, along the lines of the priorities specified.