[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 127 (Tuesday, September 13, 1994)] [Senate] [Page S] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov] [Congressional Record: September 13, 1994] From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] ST. PETERSBURG COMMISSION: CATALYZING BOTTOMS-UP REFORM IN RUSSIA Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I want to invite the attention of my colleagues in Congress to a unique international partnership formed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies [CSIS], a distinguished policy research institution in Washington, DC. I refer to the International Action Commission for St. Petersburg, on which I serve, and which is successfully increasing investment and business growth and speeding the process of economic conversion in St. Petersburg city and region. Working under the joint leadership of Dr. Henry Kissinger and Mayor Anatoly Sobchak, the 71 commissioners, comprising leaders of business, government and universities from six nations, play an aggressive and direct role in bringing about an impressive number of positive changes in northwest Russia. Commission actions are developed and implemented through a framework for cooperation involving 11 joint Russian-Western working groups and a consortium of international universities. These working groups have 26 concrete actions completed or underway in areas ranging from arbitration court development to defense industry conversion and energy conservation. Through these actions, and through the partnership that has created them, the commission has sparked joint venture development, growing private and public investment in the St. Petersburg region, job growth, business education, technical assistance, and the building of structures necessary for a functioning free market economy and stable economic growth. These significant and tangible results not only provide clear benefits to the St. Petersburg region, but they also serve as a model for economic conversion for other Russian cities and regions, and cement a healthy working relationship between American and Russian leaders. The intense activity taking place in St. Petersburg through this commission, the enthusiastic involvement of so many senior leaders, and the early successes already achieved in this effort, underscore the critical importance--to both Russia and the United States--of strong, bottoms-up change in this strategic region of Russia to accompany top- down reform efforts led from Moscow. Under the leadership of its president, Ambassador David M. Abshire, CSIS's effort on this project merits our admiration and support. I ask unanimous consent to insert in the Congressional Record descriptive information about the commission's work. There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: [From the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC] International Action Commission for St. Petersburg brief overview The International Action Commission for St. Petersburg has moved aggressively to develop and advocate concrete actions which are leading to near-term increases in foreign investment and in Russian and Western business growth in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast. The commission is co- chaired by Dr. Henry Kissinger and Mayor Anatoly Sobchak. The 71 commissioners are senior leaders of business, government and universities, and are from St. Petersburg, President Yeltsin's cabinet, the U.S., Finland, Sweden, France and the U.K. The work of the commission is being accomplished by joint Russian-Western working groups which develop promising actions and assist the city, oblast, business community and universities in the timely introduction of these actions. Over 200 persons are involved in the current eight working groups and in a consortium of 26 international and St. Petersburg universities. These eight working groups have 30 actions completed or underway addressing the following areas critical to economic growth and conversion: Public Education for Business Growth; Infrastructure Improvement; Modernization and Development of the Port; Energy Conservation and Management; Unstable Business Conditions; Defense Diversification; Banking and Investment; and Agribusiness Development. The full commission has met in plenary session on three occasions beginning in October 1992 in St. Petersburg, at a 1993 meeting in Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, DC, and returning to St. Petersburg for a June 1994 meeting. During the June, 1994 plenary session, the commission set a priority on securing needed investment funding for 21 projects developed by the commission working groups over the past year. The commission also agreed to form three new Russian-Western working groups to act on: Small and Medium Sized Business Growth; Health Care Improvement; and Strengthening of Government Processes under New Local and Regional Government. The three new working groups will meet in St. Petersburg in September 1994, and will propose new actions to be developed, acted upon as quickly as possible. The original eight working groups will guide the funding and execution of developed projects. The commissioners will meet to measure commission progress at a fourth plenary session, scheduled for July, 1995. This commission is organized by CSIS with Mr. George W. Handy as director and Mr. David A. Pepper as assistant director. Funding is from corporate contributions and a U.S. AID grant. Cochairs Henry A. Kissinger and Anatoly Sobchak. Commission Members Europe & the United States Krister Ahlstrom, President and CEO, A. Ahlstrom Corporation. Anders Aslund, Director, Stockholm Institute of East European Economics. Percy Barnevik, President and CEO, ABB Asea Brown Boveri. Per Benemar, CEO, Petersburg Products International. Carl Bjornberg, President and CEO, Myllykoski Oy. Michael R. Bonsignore, Chairman and CEO, Honeywell Inc. Fred L. Cipriano, Senior Vice President, Booz-Allen & Hamilton. Robert W. Cox, Chairman, Baker & McKenzie. Robert Davies, Executive Director, The Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum. Georg Ehrnrooth, President and CEO, Metra Corporation. Bruno Grob, President, Otis Elevator International. Jukka Harmala, President and CEO, Enso-Gutzeit Oy. Robert D. Hormats, Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs International. Jaakko Ihamoutila, Chairman and CEO, Neste Oy. Jaakko Iloniemi, Managing Director, EVA. James D. Jameson, Chairman, Glenair. Harry Johnston (D-FL), U.S. House of Representatives. L.J. Jouhki, President, Thomesto Trading Company Ltd. Seppo Kauppila, Consul General, St. Petersburg, Embassy of Finland. Jarl Kohler, President, Finnish Forest Industries Federation. Eugene Lawson, President, U.S.-Russia Business Council. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-CT), United States Senate. Harald B. Malmgren, President, Malmgren Group. Thomas E. Marsh, Regional President, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco International. Dave McCurdy (D-OK), U.S. House of Representatives. Jean-Marie Merillon, Chairman, Credit Lyonnais Russia. Jan Meyers (R-KS), U.S. House of Representatives. Kalevi Numminen, President and CEO, Imatra Power. Jorma Ollila, President, Nokia Group. William H. Orton (D-UT), U.S. House of Representatives. Ambassador Henry Owen, Consultants International. Milan Panic, President, ICN Pharmaceuticals. John E. Pepper, President, The Procter & Gamble Company. Ogden R. Reid, Director, National Patent Development Corporation. John J. Roberts, Vice Chairman, American International Group. Blair A. Ruble, Director, Kennen Institute for Advanced Russian Studies. Robert Rutford, President, University of Texas at Dallas. Ambassador John D. Scanlan, ICN Pharmaceuticals. William Donald Schaefer, Governor of Maryland. S. Frederick Starr, President, Aspen Institute. Matti Sundberg, CEO, Valmet Corporation. Peter Wallenberg, First Vice Chairman, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken. John Warner (R-VA), United States Senate. Thomas Wheelock, Chairman, Comspan. Russia Vladimir Alexandrov, General Director, Shipbuilding. Alexander Belyaev, Member, Federal Council. Alexander Belyakov, Governor, Leningrad Oblast, Member, Federal Council. Yuri Bokov, General Director, Shipbuilding. Alexei Bolshakov, Chairman, Railway Project. Anatoly Chubais, Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman, Committee for Privatization, Russian Federation. Boris Fedorov, Deputy, State Duma. Vladimir Gorodniy, Vice President and General Director, Lenvest. Viktor Ivanov, General Director, Union Industrial & Building Enterprises. Victor Khalansky, Chief Representative for St. Petersburg, Central Bank of Russia. Igor Klioutchnikov, Chairman of the Board, St. Petersburg Stock Exchange. Alexei Kudrin, First Deputy Chairman, of St. Petersburg Government, Chairman, Committee on Economy and Finance. Vyacheslav Larin, General Director, LenTEK. Yuri Lvov, Chairman of the Board, St. Petersburg Bank. Liubov Ogneva, General Director, St. Petersburg Clothes Manufactory. Vyacheslav Petrov, General Director, Arsenal Production Association. Vladimir Putin, First Deputy Director, of St. Petersburg Government, Chairman, Committee on External Relations. Alexander A. Sarkisov, President, Klimov Works. Peotr G. Semenenco, President, Klimov Plant. Vladimir Semenov, General Director, Industry and Construction Bank. Dmitry V. Sergeyev, Deputy Minister of Transportation, Russian Federation. Anatoly A. Turchak, President, Concern Leninets. Ludmilla Verbitskaya, Rector, St. Petersburg University. Vladimir Yakovlev, First Deputy Chairman, of St. Petersburg Government, Chairman, City Development Committee. Eugene Yelin, President, Currency Stock Exchange. Valentin P. Zanin, Manager General, Signal. overview The International Action Commission for St. Petersburg is organized under the co-leadership of Dr. Henry Kissinger and Mayor Anatoly Sobchak to support actions which will increase investment and business growth and speed the process of economic conversion in St. Petersburg city and region. The 71 commissioners, senior leaders of business, government and universities from six nations, work through 11 joint Russian- Western working groups and a consortium of international universities to undertake concrete actions having a near term impact on this strategic city and region of Russia. Periodic plenary sessions bring the commissioners together to assess progress, eliminate obstacles and decide on new directions for action. third plenary session On June 10 and 11, 1994, the International Action Commission for St. Petersburg met in St. Petersburg for its Third Plenary Session. The highly successful session was hosted by co-chairman, Mayor Anatoly Sobchak, and was preceded on June 9 and 10 by a meeting of the commission's international university consortium. The commissioners assessed and agreed upon 33 concrete decisions contributing to investment and business growth in St. Petersburg city and region; highlights included: $1.6 million dollars in investments to support 12 actions which have been developed by commission working groups and proposed to the U.S. Agency for International Development for funding. Continued progress on major investment projects in energy, port, agribusiness and other infrastructure areas totaling potentially several hundred million dollars. Commission agreement to form three new working groups in the areas of small and medium-sized business growth, improved health care and strengthened government processes (the later with an emphasis on tax and investment incentives, creation of an ombudsman office and law and order). Approval by commissioners of a schedule for the year ahead with a meeting of commission and working group co-chairmen in February 1995 and a fourth plenary session in July 1995. Agreement that the priority effort of the commission in the year ahead would be to help secure needed investments and to support their rapid application, in St. Petersburg city and region. major accomplishments among 30 current commission actions Television program on Russian-Western cooperation broadcast on June 11 to the 14 million viewers of the St. Petersburg channel. Voice of America Radio broadcasts across Russia of commission experience. Guidelines, sponsors and charters for International Arbitration Court organized; registration expected in several months. One stop shop agency to assist businesses and investors and to speed city development organized. U.S. Russia-Exchange programs underway with full St. Petersburg participation. Russian-American Enterprise Fund introduced to St. Petersburg personally by fund chairman, Mr. G. Corrigan. International School and Medical Center open and operating successfully. Leninets award of a U.S. government grant for defense industry conversion of $1 to 5 million scheduled for July; all commission defense enterprises are well positioned for additional grants. University Consortium expanded to 26 international universities with work underway on distance learning, new courses, exchanges and creation of business schools. projects developed and ready for investment action The following 12 projects ready for funding have been developed from working group actions and proposed to U.S. AID: Television program follow-on; Arbitration court start-up; Investment and Development Agency public relations plan; Central historic district development; Technology park business plan and prospectus; Bank card system start-up; General banking training; Energy efficiency zone and company formation; Business plan for agribusiness wholesale terminal market; Agricultural skill training; Feasibility study for port operations improvement; and Port operations training program. Negotiations for major funding are underway with commission working group support for projects developed from joint Russian-Western actions in the following areas: Infrastructure Improvement Program (World Bank); Stock Exchange Clearing House; District Heating Project (World Bank); Energy Efficiency Center & Zone (World Bank); Energy Master Plan (Finnish Government, World Bank); Nuclear Energy Project (World Bank); Agribusiness Wholesale Market (World Bank, EBRD); Port Operations Improvements (World Bank, EBRD); and Guarantee Fund for Environmental Improvements. ____________________