AO MOSENERGO will further perfect coverage of its corporate policy. The company will focus more on corporate governance, understanding the significance of this issue for Russia. In August 2000, AO MOSENERGO set up a division devoted to corporate policy and asset management. An article on its activities and corporate governance will soon be placed on the official AO MOSENERGO website at www.mosenergo.ru.

The topics of utmost importance discussed at the State Duma and the Federal Commission for the Securities Market include the creation of corporate standards, development of corporate culture, shareholder relations, protection of property rights and information disclosure.

Today, a working group for improvement of corporate governance in Russia held a second meeting. Representatives from the Ministry for Antimonopoly Policy, Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Moscow Inter-Bank Currency Exchange and Institute for Corporate Law and Management discussed the current practice of corporate governance in Russia and shareholder protection. The participants raised issues relating to registration of property rights, rights for alienation and transfer of shares, as well as the provision of information on activities of public companies to shareholders.

The members of the working group came up with very interesting proposals regarding the position of a "representative for shareholder rights" (the company secretary). These representatives will be certified by the Federal Commission for the Securities Market and assume responsibility for the company's information disclosure.

Currently, many issuers do not observe disclosure requirements, as there are no serious sanctions. The working group proposed to toughen sanctions against violators and introduce individual responsibility for officials. The recommendations of the working group will take shape in the form of specific laws, amendments to charters and internal corporate documents, as well as to provisions of corporate governance codes.

AO MOSENERGO has kept abreast of key international achievements in the field of corporate governance as well as taken into consideration the recommendations from the State Duma, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation and the Federal Commission for the Securities Market, when drafting its own corporate governance guidelines.