OREANDA-NEWS. December 03, 2008. Minsk hosted a meeting of the ‘Law, Banking & Finance’ working group. Belarus’ leading banks, Belgazprombank and Belvnesheconombank, organized the event, reported the press-centre of Belgazprombank.

‘Law, Banking & Finance’ is one of the EBC seven working groups. The Minsk seating, ‘The Role of Audit for Strategic Development of Today’s Companies’, was the fourth working group meeting this year. Business leaders from Belarus, Russia, Germany and Great Britain gathered in the conference hall of the ‘Minsk’ hotel to discuss the importance of audit.

More than forty participants attended the event including representatives of such giants as Gazprom, Ernst & Young, Deloitte & Touche, PWC, KPMG, National Grid, Calyon Rusbank, Deutsche Bank, Gazinvestbank, Sogaz and other companies. Belgazprombank and Belvnesheconombank represented Belarus’ financial sector.

Chairman of the working group, Deputy Chairman of the Board and head of the Finance and Economic Department at Gazprom, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Belgazprombank Andrey Kruglov opened the meeting. In his welcoming speech he emphasized paramount importance of audit for businesses. He said: “When we chose the topic for this meeting some time ago, we didn’t know that world financial markets would face such difficulties. In these circumstances, the role of audit companies as independent business evaluators strengthens.”
Representatives of largest audit companies including Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, KMPG and BDO Unicon presented their reports.

Afterwards, participants had a roundtable discussion of urgent question and problems tackled by the presenters.

About the EBC:
The EBC European Business Congress is an international non-governmental and non-profit organisation (NGNPO), founded in December 1997 in Bonn, Germany. As of August 2008, the EBC has 110 members from 21 OSCE states. Statutory bodies of the EBC are the General Assembly, the Presiding Committee, the Board of Directors and the Secretariat. The President of the EBC is Dr. Alexey Miller, Gazprom. Vice-president is Dr. Tessen von Heydebreck, Deutsche Bank AG. The EBC objectives include supporting the development of economic co-operation between and in OSCE member states, promoting economic development in OSCE member states, promoting a sustainable dialogue between politics and private businesses.