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|**BISNISHome PageSearchBISNISEmbassyReportsCountryReportsIndustryReportsPublicationsSourcesof FinanceLeadsand EventsExchangeRatesState ExportsOtherSources** |  | May 1998by Padraic J. SweeneyHow to improve conditions for insurance and leasing in Russia was the focus of the recent
meeting of the U.S.-Russia Business Development Committee's Banking and Financial Services
Subgroup, held April 21 in Washington, D.C. Representatives from interested U.S. businesses and
a number of U.S. Government agencies heard from business  participants on the conditions for
insurance and leasing in Russia.  Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce Everette James, who
co-chairs the Subgroup with Russian Deputy Minister of Economy Vyacheslav Morgunov,
reported on the Subgroup's 1998 Work Program, which was adopted April 1 in Moscow.  The
work program calls for several regulatory and training events in 1998.  For the first event, a
delegation of insurance experts will travel to Moscow for a roundtable on the Russian insurance
market during the week of June 8.Private-sector participants noted that despite a growing awareness of insurance and lease
financing in Russia, there seemed to be very little knowledge of how these key financial tools
work in practice.  Without this knowledge, they observed, it will be very difficult to implement
legal and regulatory reforms.  Participants identified training for Russian managers, insurance
regulators, government officials, and Duma members  as essential to meeting the Subgroup's 1998
goals.  For more information on the Subgroup, contact John Crosson of the Commerce
Department's Office of Finance, at 202-482-0351.Padraic J. Sweeney covers finance for BISNIS.This report is provided courtesy of the Business Information Service for the Newly
Independent States (BISNIS)