Today, V.P. Yevtushenkov, Chairman of SISTEMA JSFC’s Board of Directors, goes with a delegation of Russian businesspeople led by Yevgeni Primakov, President of the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry, to Jiddah, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on a tour of Middle Eastern countries. The delegation is scheduled to attend the Jiddah 2003 International Economic Forum, to be held on January 18 to 20, and the Business Forum “Russia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)” on January 21, and have a series of talks there.

The Jiddah 2003 Forum will address “Global Competition: Think Globally and Act Locally.” The Forum’s official program calls for participation of government members and representatives of the business communities of the Gulf countries and several delegates of the Harvard School of Business in its work. On the Russian side, the Mid-Eastern forums will be attended by representatives of the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a number of energy and oil companies and banks.

The Russia-Gulf Cooperation Council Business Forum, to be held in Jiddah on January 21, is to be addressed by A. Atiya, GCC Secretary General, Ye. Primakov, President of the RF CCI, and Muhammad Ben Abdullah al-Mullah (Chairman of Qatar’s CCI Board), Secretary General of the GCC Union of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Between January 23 and 28, V.P. Yevtushenkov is going to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He is expected to make an address at the session devoted to “Assessment of the Investment Climate in Russia” and have a number of business meetings.

* The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), formed in 1981 to promote cooperation among Arab countries on the western side of the Persian Gulf in the economy, development and education, comprises six oil-producing countries: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, and the Sultanate of Oman. V.P. Yevtushenkov is the Russian co-chairman of the Russia-GCC Business Forum.