Dear friends,

The shortest month of the year has come to an end and took the winter with it! February at SPIBA was very memorable and eventful, and we are pleased to offer you a brief overview of our activities.

On February 3 a meeting was held on the topic “The export of goods, including mutual trade in the Customs Union”, with the participation of Deputy Chief of the Office of VAT, corporate tax FTS Russia Irina Persikova. Theme of the meeting covered issues such as export operations VAT taxation, particularly the submission of documents confirming the validity of applying the zero rate in electronic form, and the use of residues for exported goods. Irina talked about the restoration of VAT previously taken as a deduction for goods (works and services), fixed assets and their further use in operations taxed at a zero rate, as well as individual export transactions. In particular, exports of goods that are exempt from VAT, losses during transportation of exported goods, export goods using warehouses in foreign countries, etc.

On February 12 at SPIBA we held a meeting devoted to future changes in logistics and how to prepare for them today. The first presentation was made by a professor from the University of Technology, Lappeenranta, Olli-Pekka Hilmola. Olli-Pekka emphasized in his speech the regulation of emissions, protecting the environment and changes in the supply chain. Discussion was continued by Konstantin Krotov, Senior Lecturer, Department of Operations Management of Graduate School of Management SPbU. He analyzed the factors affecting modern logistics and supply chain. We thank our academic partners for the presented results of their research, which proved extremely useful for the business community.

The regular meeting of the Legal Debating Club was conducted on February 19. At this time the topic for discussion was “Top management: responsibility, insurance, dismissal.” Artem Zhavoronkov, partner at Dentons, chose the theme of his speech with unusual name “New Rules On Directors’ Liability: Falling Into Cold Sweat”, which was not chosen by chance: the name reflects the experience of top managers of companies from changes in the legislation regarding the liability of managers. Anna Leksashova, associate at Capital Legal Services, spoke about the features of the dismissal of top managers, and Alexey Dobrynin, Head of corporate crime practice at Pen & Paper, concluded the discussion, with the important topic “Legal instruments to protect businesses from the negative consequences of the dismissal of top management”.

The event “Price of PR” on February 21, organized by the SPIBA Marketing Committee aroused great interest in the professional environment, gathering nearly 60 managers of PR-departments of various companies in St. Petersburg. Olga Chernysheva, managing partner of BC Communications, introduced participants to a portfolio of PR, comparing it to an investment portfolio. The set of PR tools in the arsenal of a modern agency is so wide that it is able to solve any client communication task, public or private. Public relations director of the North- West Branch of OJSC “MegaFon” Alexander Tsypkin shared experience of cooperation with agencies. He outlined his views on the problem of interaction between the client company and the agency. Ekaterina Artemyeva, PR director of the group of companies “Geropharm”, continued on the topic of effective interaction, presenting several successful cases. She shared agency selection criteria and principles of division of responsibilities while working together on the project.  Ekaterina Karzhonkova, executive director of AKOS, introduced PR services price formation. New to PR – an hourly system of PR billing services conforming to international standards is important not only for PR-agencies, but also for customers. It will help bring the market of PR services to a new level.

The SPIBA Real estate and construction Committee and the Committee on legislation and lobbying were invited to participate in a roundtable discussion on “Litigation with authorities” on February 25. Issues for discussion included the contesting regulations, disputes in relation to land development, contesting inaction of government agencies, and loss reimbursement from government agencies. The discussion was attended by active members from the following companies: Dentons, Pepeliaev Group, Capital Legal Services, Attorneys at law Borenius, Pen & Paper, “Semenyako, Grib and partners”, and many others.

On February 26, SPIBA in conjunction with the Economic and Trade Mission at the Consulate General of Belgium in St. Petersburg, held a seminar on Flanders region called “Belgium: food for thought.” The seminar was conducted in the traditional Belgian pub KwakInn, where guests not only received new and interesting information about the benefits of Flanders for doing business, but also tasted delicious Belgian beers in a friendly atmosphere. We thank the Consulate General of Belgium for an interesting format of cooperation and look forward to new, equally interesting projects in the future!

This month’s guest of “Breakfast with the director” was Yaroslava Vasilieva, HR Director of Nissan Russia. Yaroslava dedicated her presentation to the “bottlenecks” and opportunities of the HR profession in Russia, and also spoke about her professional career and development. An interesting career with unexpected twists, experience in Russian and international consulting and manufacturing companies, dipping into the corporate culture of different countries – Russia , America, Japan, a sparkling sense of humor and a story about extreme sports passion made ​​this “Breakfast” extraordinarily bright and memorable!

On Thursday, February 27, we held a meeting with Anatoly I. Kotov, Chairman of the Committee on Economic Policy and Strategic Planning of St. Petersburg. At the meeting we discussed the possibilities of the development of automobile cluster in St. Petersburg in the framework of Strategy for socio – economic development of St. Petersburg until 2030.

On February 28, SPIBA members discussed issues related to the expansion of the list of roads of regional significance in St. Petersburg, which allowed the movement of commercial vehicles with a maximum authorized mass exceeding 8 tonnes, which was approved by Annex 3 to the Resolution of the Government of St. Petersburg № 272 from 27.03 .2012. Vasily V. Osipov. Director of the St. Petersburg State treasury institution “Center for complex infrastructure improvement”, Andrey B. Verhovsky – Deputy Director, Georgy  K. Mityaev – Head of weight control and organization of freight transport, participated in the discussion.

We sincerely congratulate you on the coming of spring, and we will be more than happy to see you at our March events!