2008: 11th Annual General Meeting of the EBC in Deauville, France

On 10-11 June 2008 the European Business Congress e.V. hold its 11th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Deauville, France at the invitation of Gaz de France and Schlumberger. The General meeting was held under the chairmanship of Dr. Alexey Miller, Chairman of Gazprom Management Committee and the EBC President. The General meeting was attended by more than 300 participants representing 21 OSCE member-states.
Mr. Jean-Marie Dauger, CEO, Gaz de France, and Mr. Pierre-Alain Duplais, Vice mayor of Deauville, welcomed the AGM participants at the opening ceremony.

At the international conference held in the framework of the General meeting and dedicated to “Globalization of the energy markets” following high-ranking officials gave their presentations: Mr. J-M. Dauger, CEO of Gaz de France, Dr. L. Grigoriev, President of Energy and Finance Institute, Russia, Mr. B. Lie Hansen, President, StatoilHydro ASA, Norway, Dr. A. Landia, Chairman of the Board of Directors, SUEK, Russia, Mr. S. Vilogorac, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, UN Economic Commission for Europe, Mrs. D. Patry, Co-ordinator of Oil and Oil Services Sector, Credit Agricole Cheuvreux S.A., France, Mr. S. Tsygankov, Head of International Business Department, Gazprom and Mr. M. Bachman, Vice President Russia, Caspian and SE Europe, Shell Energy Europe, Russia.

The speakers noted the growth in oil and gas demand, the impact of the financial crisis on the energy sector development, the increased competition to access the energy sources in the world, and the development and construction of the new energy projects. Within the framework of the General Meeting Dr. A.B. Miller held a press briefing.

A new working project of the Congress have been approved at the Presiding Committee winter session held on 10 December 2008 . The EBC – Lower Saxony state (Germany) joint project “Transfer of Western energy efficiency technologies” was launched to analyze and transfer Western energy efficiency technologies to Eastern Europe by developing a catalog of export-oriented Western technologies for industrial and private use. The project’s implementation (2008-2011) was supervised by the “Industry and Construction” and “Ecology and Healthcare” Working Committees.

In the same year the “Human Resources, Education and Science” Working Committee launched the “Fellowship on Energy” project – a three-module practical management skills training program for young promising employees from the EBC member-companies necessary for the implementation of the joint international projects in the energy sector.
At the meeting, Mr. Bogdan Budzulyak announced his resignation from the post of the Chairman of the “Industry and Construction” Working Committee due to his job transfer. On behalf of the Presiding Committee members the EBC President thanked Mr. Budzulyak for numerous years of his fruitful work at the Congress. Dr. Oleg Aksyutin, member of the Management Board, Head of the Department of Transportation, Underground Storage and Use of Gas of Gazprom, was elected as his successor. Dr. Aksyutin continues to successfully lead the work of the Committee up to this day. (In 2016 the Committee was renamed as “Industry, Innovations and Prospective Development” ).