The success of this cooperative relationship should provide an incentive to leaders from other countries within the New Independent States, Central and Eastern Europe and throughout the world to utilize this model as a means of further increasing the potential for economic growth by strengthening their own chambers of commerce. Although a handful of Russian chambers existed before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the majority have been established over the past few years. Today, there are more than 120 chambers and still increasing, thus creating a critical shortage of professionals experienced in their operation. Training Is Rigorous Over the past two years, five 5-day regional training seminars have been conducted in the cities of St. Petersburg, Irkutsk, Kazan, Krasnodar, and Moscow. In addition, two 1-day training programs for executives of the Russian Federation Chamber were held in October 1996.
Training is rigorous and intense, with six to eight hours of instruction per day.
Participants are taught how other business executives in situations comparable to their own develop active, vibrant, self-sustaining associations that influence public policy and provide membership services. Strategies Match Participants' Needs Key disciplines such as membership development and retention, organizational structure, and financial management are stressed. Special attention is paid to public-policy advocacy, communication techniques, ethics, and small business development. Strategies and methods of adapting successes to the participants' own particular situations are explored and developed. For the Russian Chamber US experts provided advice in developing its own accreditation program for regional chambers.