The European Business Club in the Russian Federation (EBC)

The European Business Club in the Russian Federation (EBC) was founded in 1995 by small number of respectable foreign businessmen in Moscow and supported by the Head of the Delegation of the European Commission Dr.Ottokar Hahn. Among them were Seppo Remes (Finland),Lorenzo Pastore (Italy), Josef Marous (Germany), Guy Marchand (Belgium), Tiberius Braun (Germany) and Alberto Allegretti (Italy), Michel Tchesnakoff France, Alexander Borodin Russia. Most of the charter members of EBC are also members of Rotary Club Moscow International [http://www.RCMI.ru] . As first General manager served James Watson (United Kingdom).

Since this time, the EBC has grown into one of the largest foreign business associations in the Russian Federation. In tandem with this growth in size, the range of activities, that the EBC is involved in, has developed. While the tangible benefits of some of the EBC's policy directions, such as the creation of the Common European Economic Space (CEES) and Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization, will not be felt immediately, the EBC believe that only when Russia is fully integrated both into the world economy and Europe as a whole, will its huge, and still largely untapped, economic potential be realized.

Throughout 2002 - 2007, the EBC maintained its drive towards encouraging Russian WTO accession. This will assist in the necessary restructuring of Russian industry and infrastructure, and boost trade, growth, and the creation of jobs in the medium- and long-term. WTO accession represents a golden opportunity for Russia, and the EBC will continue to encourage all relevant parties to grasp it as soon as possible. EBC hopes to achieve this by building upon links with counterparts in Russian industry and commerce, in addition to government officials at all levels, both in Europe and in Russia. EBC do this to promote dialogue in order to smooth contentious issues and convince people that WTO accession is of benefit to all. The EBC remaind firm in its belief that the optimal time for accession is this year. Further delays will lead to the introduction of additional conditions for accession and will only hinder Russia's economic development.

In an ever increasingly globalised world, now is not the time to create new barriers or to maintain old ones. The Common European Economic Space will assist in the tearing down of barriers by encouraging and increasing the flow of investment, capital, and manpower across previously concrete European borders. Together with Russian partners, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), EBC has worked, to promote this concept at the highest levels of Russian and European government.In 2005 the EBC changed the name in AEB (Association of European Businesses).

Official website of the Association of European Businesses in Russian Federation: www.aebrus.ru