ICC national committees formed in Russia, Poland and Cuba
Paris, 9 May 2000 - Russia, Poland and Cuba have formed ICC national committees, bringing the total number of countries where it has national representative organizations to 72.
The ICC World Council meeting in Budapest last week admitted the new national committees to the world business organization. The Council approved articles of association presented by all three national business communities.
Before the Council met, the 25 leading Russian companies and business associations that now constitute ICC Russia said in a statement that they would contribute to the development of free mar
kets, trade liberalization and the promotion of democratic values in their countries.
Describing themselves as a new generation of entrepreneurs, they said: "This new generation is keen to promote widespread economic reform and will assume a key role in assisting the new Russian government to shape economic strategy." Oleg Deripaska, Chairman of Sibirsky Aluminium, takes over as Chairman of ICC Russia.
Other members include RAO UESR (Unified Energy Systems of Russia, Vneshtorgbank (Bank for Foreign Trade), Vnesheconombank, Vimpel Communications, Troike Dialog Investment Bank, Doninvest Financial and Industrial Group, and Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.
Chairman of ICC Cuba is Hector M. Perez Paez, President of the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Cuba. The new national committee has 28 founding members, which are fully representative of Cuba's main economic sectors. They include telecommunications companies, law firms, customs and transportation agencies, industrial firms and companies involved in the export of tobacco and sugar - Cuba's two main export commodities.
ICC Cuba will host the ICC Latin American regional meeting on 20-21 October.
The list of founding members of ICC Poland includes 12 banks and three chambers of commerce, plus the Association of Polish Industry, Commerce and Finances "Lewiathon", the Polish Chamber of Commerce and the Polish Bank Association. The Chairman of ICC Poland is Stefan Jerzak, Director, Foreign Department of Bank Gospodarki Zywnosciowej.
ICC national committees are required to be fully representative of the main economic sectors of their country, to be able to participate fully in ICC's work as the organization that speaks for world business, and to be independent of government influence in order to retain freedom of action.