OREANDA-NEWS. An annual general meeting of Expocentre ZAO shareholders took place on 29 March 2013.

The meeting was opened and chaired by Sergei Katyrin, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Expocentre ZAO and President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.

The 2012 activity report was delivered by Sergei Bednov, Director General of Expocentre ZAO.

Speaking about the results of the year, Sergei Bednov noted that Expocentre retained its leading position in the Russian exhibition industry.

In 2012, the company achieved a record performance level. The actual performance figures were 11.4% higher than the targets for 2012. Sales grew by 27%. The gross exhibition and congress space totaled over 2m sq. m (up 6% on the previous year).

In 2012, Expocentre Fairgrounds ran 105 exhibitions on the net space of 703 500 sq. m (up 8.2%). They were attended by 32 600 businesses from 109 countries (4300 more businesses year on year). The total visitor attendance of all events made up 1.8 million people.

The venue showed a record-breaking space-management efficiency rate of 24.4, comparing with 18.0 in 2011. In terms of this factor Expocentre is well ahead of other major European Exhibition Centres.

This year, the venue organized 36 and hosted 69 events. The key focus was on innovation exhibitions, which accounted for over 20% of all Expocenre’s exhibitions. They included Photonics. World of Lasers and Optics; Navitech; High Technology of ХХI; Svyaz-Expocomm; Khimia and many others.

Expocentre continues to develop its project - the International Forum on Intellectual Property Expopriority. As part of it, Expocentre has launched a new project called Expocentre For Counterfeit-Free Exhibitions. Its objective is to minimize the number of exhibits infringing third parties’ rights at Expocentre’s exhibitions.

Expocentre strives to deliver its events to the highest international standards. The high quality of its services is demonstrated by the Approved Event Logos presented to Expocentre’s exhibitions by the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI). In 2012, the International Forum of the Exhibition Industry 5pExpo became the 23rd Expocentre’s project awarded with this Logo. 27 exhibitions and trade fairs of Expocentre are awarded an Approved Event Logo by the Russian Union of Exhibitions and Fairs (RUEF).

Expocentre is one of few companies that have their events examined by independent auditors. 27 exhibitions of the company were audited in 2012.

This year, Expocentre brought back the practice of organizing Russian pavilions at exhibitions held in other countries.

The company continues to develop another area of its business - congresses. In 2012, Expocentre hosted 711 forums, congresses, conferences and round-table discussions, and, for the first time, the company was an initiator and organizer of a congress- the Russian Practical Forum i-Retail.

The total exhibition space of the venue as of 31 December 2012 made up 165 000 sq. m comprising 105 000 sq. m of indoor space and 60 000 sq. m of outdoor space. The venue offers nine perfectly equipped pavilions to its exhibitors and visitors.

Expocentre is the only Russian exhibition centre offering Wi-Fi coverage throughout the venue. The company plans on launching a range of useful mobile applications in 2013. It has opened a call centre hotline. A new navigation system is going to be put into operation in 2013.

Expocentre highly appreciate support and assistance lent to it by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation – the principal shareholder of Expocentre ZAO. Sergei Bednov said that without assistance from the Chamber, the progress of the company would have been by far less impressive.

Expocentre continues to support exhibitions and trade fairs in Russia’s regions; it shares new exhibition technologies and best practices with its regional colleagues, particularly at the 5pExpo International Forum of the Exhibition Industry.

Expocentre strengthens its collaboration with Russian and foreign exhibition and event industry unions and associations. In 2012, the company was admitted to the European Major Exhibition Centres Association (EMECA) and became the first and only EMECA member from Eastern Europe.

Nikolai Antonov, Deputy Director of Expocentre ZAO spoke on the objectives within the plan of expansion and reconstruction of the venue.

The general meeting approved Expocentre ZAO operating results and the work of the company’s management over the reporting period.

The general meeting has approved the new composition of the Board of Directors of Expocentre ZAO, which is as follows:

Sergei S. Bednov, Director General, Expocentre ZAO

Nikolai N. Gusev, First Deputy Director General, Expocentre ZAO

Vladimir A. Gubernatorov, Adviser to the President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation

Sergei N. Katyrin, President, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation

Igor A. Korotin, Director, the Department for Exhibitions, Fairs and Congresses of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation

Vladimir Yu. Salomatov, Director General, WTC JSC

Nikolai M. Tyapochkin, President, the Kursk Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Lyudmila I. Chukhrova, Senior Economist, Expocentre ZAO

The Executive Board now includes:

Nikolai A. Antonov, Deputy Director General, Expocentre ZAO

Sergei S. Bednov, Director General, Expocentre ZAO

Nikolai I. Bugayev, Deputy Director General, Expocentre ZAO

Nikolai N. Gusev, First Deputy Director General, Expocentre ZAO

Andrei K. Zhukovsky, Deputy Director General, Expocentre ZAO

Aleksei L. Levitsky, Director General, Expowestrans ZAO

Anna V. Sadovnichaya, Deputy Director General, Expocentre ZAO

Nikolai P. Sarmanov, Head of Administration, Expocentre ZAO

Mikhail P. Tolkachev, Deputy Director General, Expocentre ZAO

Narima M. Eldarov, Director General, Expoconsta ZAO.