OREANDA-NEWS. May 30, 2008. At the regular Annual Meeting of Shareholders new members of the Board of Directors of OAO Belon were elected.

The Board now includes 3 representatives of OAO Belon, 2 representatives of the Magnitogorsky Steel Mill, and 2 independent directors. OAO Belon is represented by A. P. Dobrov, the Director General of OAO Belon, V. N. Karmachyev, the Director General of OAO Elektron Production Assembly & Construction Plant, and S. S. Zolotykh, the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of OAO Belon for Kuzbass.

In accordance with the conditions of the strategic partnership between Belon Group and the Magnitogorsky Steel Mill, which was concluded in March 2008, the Board of Directors now includes the representatives of the Mill. The new board members are V. V. Bastrygin, the Deputy Director of OAO Magnitogorsky Steel Mill for Corporate Strategy and Marketing for Raw Material Base Development, and V. A. Kutischev.

The Board of Directors was also joined by independent directors—Alan Cooper and David Waygood. David Waygood (UK) replaced exiting independent director David Pool. Mr. Waygood is the CEO of Waygood Limited; this company provides consulting services in the fields of international business and corporate governance.

The major task of the new Board of Directors will be the implementation of the approved strategy of the Company’s development till 2012. The plan for the development of Belon Group aims at the significant increase in the coal output, which is expected to reach 14–15 mln tons by 2012; this will allow the Company to be listed among the top 5 coal production companies in Russia.