A star-studded cast of Russia’s top business leaders gathered at the Grand Marriott hotel on Tverskaya Saturday evening for the annual American Chamber of Commerce Award Ceremony.

The non-profit organization of American and foreign businesses in Russia selected companies and individuals that had made positive and innovative contributions to the business world and strengthened U.S.-Russia relations.

However, the ceremony spanned more than the U.S.-Russia borders, paying tribute to other foreign nationals and businesses as well. The winner of the Small Business Award was an innovative Dane, Claus Rozneberg, who founded MISS, a Western-style cleaning company that survived the 98’ crisis and went on to win contracts with IKEA and the Ducat II Business Center.

Former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov won the Friend of the Chamber Award and stole the show as well. Andrew Somers, president of the Chamber, praised Primakov for being a “great friend of American industry,” and of great importance in passing profit-sharing agreement legislation, supporting U.S. businesses in Sakhalin Island and supporting the construction of the Caspian pipeline.

Other top nominees included Caterpillar, which walked away with the Company of the Year Award, and Leningradskaya Oblast, which was recognized as the Region of the Year.

HR Breakfast

On April 15, the Katerina Hotel hosted an HR breakfast meeting organized by the European Business Club Human Resources Committee. The meeting focused on discussing the new Labor Code that went into effect on February 2002. The meeting’s topic was announced as “A practical look at the new labor code.”

Director of the Institute of Social Policy and representative of the Yabloko Party Anatoly Golov gave a report on “New Trends in the Russian Labor Legislation” comparing the old and the new Labor Codes and summing up the results of the first two months of living with the new code and applying it in practice.

Representatives of Western companies who attended the meeting asked many specific questions related to problems they confront regularly in their work.

Sergei Kouksa (Director, Personnel Law Bureau) also tallied up some results in his contribution “The Labor Code — Results of the First Months of Application.” He devoted special attention to a large number of inconsistencies and unclear points in the new Labor Code.

The meeting also discussed new forms of labor contracts and their practical implementation. As usual, the meeting was a success and discussed many pertinent issues.