Draganov appeared before reporters after Monday's session of the Council for Competitiveness & Private Enterprise. He suggested that the business community should form a fourth parliamentary chamber, to work alongside the bicameral parliament and the presidential staff and Cabinet. The most important result of today's session was that the Council agreed it would be drafting bills and submitting them to Parliament for consideration .
Oleg Vyugin, head of Russia's Federal Service for Financial Markets, told the media that the business community had tried to secure the Council's support for some specific projects at first, but the focus had been shifted to issues common to all entrepreneurs.
The government will no longer be able to map out its actions without considering where the business community stands, argues Sergei Borisov, leader of a national public organization for small and medium businesses, Opora Rossii [Russia's Stronghold]. According to him, PM Fradkov, who chaired today's session of the Council for Competitiveness & Private Enterprise, promised that when making decisions on its economic polices, the government would be mindful of businesspeople's needs and concerns.
The Council today made decision to set up several ad hoc groups, including on small businesses and on competitiveness in community-oriented activities, transport, and electricity generation. Its next session is scheduled for September 2004. Fradkov asked each of the members to think of one burning concern that he/she would like to share with the rest of the Council then, Borisov reported. According to him, the new body will be holding sessions on a monthly basis, and each of them will be devoted to one of such burning issues.
Fyodr Weinstok, CEO of the Transneft oil company, noted that the Council was comprised of executives who had proved their efficiency in running industrial enterprise. Consequently, there is every reason to expect that the new body will make tangible improvements to the Russian economy, he said.
