The 2002 Ninth Annual CIS and Eastern Europe Business Forum
"Success in the CIS and Eastern Europe"
This symposium is designed for those who are planning to do business in countries of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe or who are currently doing business there. The program includes case studies of successful businesses, presentations on support programs available, and analyses of current legal, political, cultural, and economic issues.
2002
Friday November 1 -- 7:30 pm (Reception)
Saturday November 2 -- 8:00 am to 6:00 pm
Sunday November 3 -- 8:30 am to 11:30 am
University of Arizona
McClelland Hall
1130 E. Helen Street, Room 208
Tucson, Arizona
Directions: Tucson map, Campus map, Yahoo! Map
Organized by The University of Arizona Department of Russian and Slavic Languages. Partially sponsored by Foodpro International, Inc., Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, Canyon Interprises, Corona Hospitality, and International Affairs of the University of Arizona.
This website contains:
Index of all CIS Business Forums since 1994
2002 Program Summary
2002 Proceedings -- Schedule and Program with Links to Presentations
2002 Photos
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Program Schedule
Friday Saturday Sunday
7:30 PM Reception
8:00 AM Registration
8:30 AM Session 1
9:30 AM Session 2
10:30 AM Session 3
12:00 PM Lunch ($15)
1:00 PM Session 4
2:30 PM Session 5
6:00 PM Dinner ($25)
8:30 AM Session 6
10:30 AM Session 7
Success in the CIS and Eastern Europe
PROGRAM
Saturday, November 2, 2002
8:30 AM -- Session 1. The political and economic scene.
9:30 AM -- Session 2. US Government support.
10:30 AM -- Session 3. CIS and Eastern Europe.
12:00 PM -- Lunch & Introductions (See photo.)
1:00 PM -- Session 4. Case Studies with Technology Transfer.
2:30 PM -- Session 5. Case Studies.
8:00 AM -- Registration.
Registration $125 to be paid by October 15, 2002.
Full-time student registration fee is $25.
Saturday Lunch is $15 extra, and Dinner is $25 extra.
Register early. Space is limited.
Download Registration form (PDF format). Follow instructions.
Reservations for the Marriott University Park Hotel
University at 880 E. Second Street, Tucson.
1-800-228-9290 by October 1.
State that you are attending the CIS & Eastern European Business Forum.
Persons with a disability may request a reasonable accommodation, such as a sign language interpreter, by calling 520-621-7341. Requests should be made as early as possible to allow time to arrange the accommodation.
For further information, please call 520-621-7341 or 520-298-6599 at the University of Arizona Department of Russian and Slavic Languages and ask for senior lecturer Roza Simkhovich or department head Dr. George Gutsche.
Roza Simkovich
George Gutsche
8:30 AM -- Session 1. The Political and Economic Scene.
Linda Wetzel, an independent consultant on doing business internationally, will provide a quick, opening overview of the political and economic scenes in Russia and Armenia. Ms. Wetzel, an expert on the former Soviet Union, has been the opening speaker for the Symposium since its inception in 1993. After a 19-year career as an analyst of the Soviet Union and as a manager for CIA, Ms. Wetzel joined the adjunct faculty [see profile] of The American Graduate School of International Management -- Thunderbird, where she offers courses on doing business in Russia and in North America, on risk management, and on business intelligence.
Click here to see Wetzel's slide presentation.
Linda Wetzel
Keat Preston PhD, research director, global political rist and senior associate for East Central Europe at Eurasia Group. Dr. Preston is a specialist on the politics of economic transition and has spent the past ten years analyzing the dynamics of industrial reform in the region. [See about.] He is the country analyst for Poland and Hungary on the 4-component Lehman Brothers Eurasia Group Stability Index (LEGSI) of 22 emerging market countries, and head on the East Central Europe Practice Group for Global Market Risk Analysis. He will focus on: "Managing Political Risk for Investors in Emerging Markets."
Click here to see Preston's slide presentation.
Keat Preston
9:30 AM -- Session 2. US Government Support.
Wesley A. Schwalje, of the US Department of Commerce, presents trade information and training opportunities. Since 1995, Schwalje has spent 5 years in Eurasia, including consulting on a USAID-funded agricultural developmenbt project in Azerbaijain. He introduced 4 sources of trade help:
Click here to see Schwalje's slide presentation.
Wesley Schwalje
SABIT--Special American Business Internship Training Program--the internship program for CIS managers whom you can train here in the US for up to 6 months to work for your business in the CIS. SABIT grants provide round-trip transportation and a $34 per day stipend.
BISNIS--Business Information Service for the CIS--which provides an assessment of business opportunities as well as information on the latest regulations and legislation in the CIS.
CRDF-- Civilian Research & Development Foundation -- which promotes scientific and technical collaboration between the United States and the countries of the Former Soviet Union.
CEEBIC--Central and Eastern Europe Business Information Center--which provides such services as economic, commercial, and financial information, trade leads, individualized business counseling, and overseas networking.
10:30 AM -- Session 3. CIS and Eastern Europe.
Presentations will be given by:
Armen A Yedigarian, Minister-Counselor, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of the Republic of Armenia, Washington, D.C.. His presentation will be "Economic Developments in Armenia, Regional Integration, and Prospects for Investment in Armenia".
Click here to see the text of Yedigarian's presentation.
Armen A Yedigarian
Talgat Bazarbekov , First Secretary/Political, Embassy of Kazakhstan. Mr. Bazarbekov's presentation will be: "Investment Opportunities in Kazakhstan."
Talgat Bazarbekov
Ödön Király, PhD, Trade Commissioner, Consul for Commercial Affairs, Hungarian Consulate [Also see: Business to Hungary], Los Angeles, will provide information on the Hungarian economic and business environment, central and local government incentives for investors, investment and trade opportunities, matchmaking companies for joint ventures. His presentation is titled: "Businessland: Hungary"
Click here to see Kiraly's slide presentation.
Ödön Király
12:00 PM -- Lunch
Click here to see photo of introductions during lunch.
1:00 PM -- Session 4. Case Studies with Technology Transfer.
Presentations will be given by:
Alan Felton, chairman and founder of Felton International, Inc., a firm that is developing proprietary needle-free jet injector technology in collaboration with Medical Equipment of Voronezh, Russia, for human and animal health applications worldwide. The company has recently achieved its first sales of the Russian/US designed devices, and Alan will discuss the challenges, lessons and fun that have been part of starting this "win-win" business."
Click here to see Felton's slide presentation.
Alan Felton
M. W. “Bill” Washburn, president of Foodpro International, Inc., a consulting engineering firm that offers a complete range of services to the food industry from concept development through the start up of the new or expanded operation. Founded 28 years ago, Foodpro has completed more than 330 projects in 36 countries. Internationally, it has specialized in working in developing countries. With extensive work in Russia and the NIS, it is in a good position to monitor change in the food industry. Bill will share his views about some of the dramatic recent changes.
Click here to see an outline of Washburn's presentation.
Bill Washburn
Tom McKinney, Director of the International New Business Development Department for the Raytheon Missile Company (RMS). This department has responsibility for all existing and future offset obligations across all RMS product lines. Mr. McKinney has over sixteen years of international business experience in the areas of government and commercial contracts, and new business development. He has had customers in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. His briefing will familiarize the audience with the overall concepts of "Industrial cooperation (offset) - A Contractor's View." With emphasis on Central and Eastern Europe, his talk will include some of the history, customer issues, typical features of offset arrangements and the challenges that offset commitments present from a US defense contractor's point of view.
Click here to see McKinney's slide presentation.
Tom McKinney
David Price, Honeywell Aerospace Electronic Systems Software Globalization, Global Site Leader, Russia and Eastern Europe. Price has been outsourcing AES avionics software development and verification to a small company in the Russian Federation since 1994. He will discuss strategies, challenges, experiences, and lessons learned from his 8 years experience in leading Russian globalization programs.
Click here to see Price's slide presentation.
David Price
2:30 PM -- Session 5. Case Studies.
Presentations will be given by:
Ursula McLoughlin, President of Corona Hospitality, Inc. Since 1975 Ursula McLoughlin has been a commercial real estate salesperson specializing in land for development and the sale of hotel/motel properties. During the past ten years she has worked extensively with the Hotel Dostyk in Almaty, Kazakhstan and with the Hotel Dostuk in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and the Resort Aurora at Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan. Presently, Corona / Mrs.McLoughlin is engaged in the development of an 85 room hotel at Atyrau, on the north shore of the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan. Her presentation will focus on: “Developing Hotel Properties in Central Asia”.
Click here to see a summary of McLoughlin's presentation.
Ursula McLoughlin
Bill McNeil, manager of the BusinessMAP Software Division for ESRI, the world’s largest GIS or digital mapping company. For the past seven years his division has been exclusively using Russian programmers to create consumer software. To date over 130,000 copies of BusinessMAP programs have been shipped through such stores as CompUSA, Micro Center, and Fry’s. His division currently does business with companies in Novosibirsk, Taganrog, Penza, and Moscow. He will focus on methods for building effective software development teams in Russia, investment advantages and disadvantages compared to the USA, and companies and areas in Russia that are the most progressive and productive.
Click here to see McNeil's slide presentation.
Bill McNeil
Doug Goodman, CEO Ridgetop Group, Inc, Tucson, Arizona, with a focus on commercial product development using technical resources in Ukraine and Russia. Ridgetop Group is a Tucson-based semiconductor design and services firm, with strong interests in the development of state-of-the-art tools for the design and testing of advanced semiconductors. Since its founding in 2000, Ridgetop has worked with engineers from Kiev, Ukraine and Novosibirsk, Russia, in the development of advanced math routines that are used for non-linear curve fitting, advanced simulation tools, and software database projects. This talk will focus on our experiences in working with engineers and technical personnel, and will address questions that US businesses face in working with former countries of the Soviet Union.
Click here to see Goodman's slide presentation.
Doug Goodman
Susan Weidner, formerly a senior commercial officer at U.S. embassies in Kazakhstan and Bulgaria, was chosen to be the facilitator for the Investors Roundtable in 2001 and 2002 in Kyrgyzstan. Mrs. Weidner will describe the unique on-going mechanism and results that have evolved from this dialog between the president of the country and key officials, legislators and local business representatives on one side, and the major foreign investors on the other.
Click here to see an outline of Weidner's presentation.
Susan Weidner
Sunday, November 3, 2002
8:30 AM -- Session 6. Investment and Finance.
10:30 AM -- Session 7. Marketing Challenges.
8:30 AM -- Session 6. Investment and Finance.
Presentations will be given by:
Radomil Novak, director of the Investment Projects Department, Czechinvest, a governmental agency in charge of promoting the Czech Republic for foreign direct investment. This year he will concentrate on the Czech Republics latest success in attracting technology companies and IT infrastructure. The topic of his speech will be “The Czech Republic--Information and Knowledge Hub”.
Click here to see an outline of Novak's presentation.
Radomil Novak
Steven L. Johnston, an Investment Insurance Officer with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) in Washington, DC, will discuss how OPIC can help investors mitigate the political risks associated with investments in the CIS and Eastern Europe. OPIC, one of the most experienced political risk insurers, has reserves exceeding $4 billion and can insure up to $250 million per project, offers political risk insurance coverage for equity investments, parent company and third-party loans and loan guaranties, technical assistance agreements, cross-border leases, capital markets transactions, contractors' and exporters' exposures, and other forms of investment. OPIC, a U.S. government agency, offers special insurance programs for small businesses, infrastructure development, financial institutions, and natural resources and oil and gas projects.
Click here to see an outline of Johnson's presentation.
Steven L. Johnston
Natalie A. Jaresko, President and Chief Executive Officer of Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF), which is a private equity fund that invests in small- and medium-sized private enterprises in Ukraine and Moldova. WNISEF was capitalized initially with $150 million by the U.S. Government. Its investment strategy has been to identify the best companies operating in the fastest growing sectors of the region's emerging market economies. WNISEF provides portfolio companies with capital and the necessary management tools to evolve from entrepreneurial ventures to professionally managed companies. Proceeds from the WNISEF's equity investments of $1 million to $10 million are used primarily for turnaround and expansion. WNISEF has invested in a range of industries with a priority interest in food processing and distribution, construction materials manufacturing, light industry, financial services, and technology. Mrs. Jaresko will speak on the topic "Strategies for Private Equity in Ukraine and the Region.”
Click here to see an outline of Jaresko's presentation.
Natalie A. Jaresko
Gulbarshyn Bozheyeva, PhD, Technology Commercialization Specialist, U.S. Industry Coalition, Inc.(USIC). Founded in 1994, the U.S. Industry Coalition is a non-profit association of American companies who are active partners in our nation’s long-term nonproliferation efforts with the former Soviet Union. USIC acts as the commercialization agent for Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention (IPP), a program sponsored by the National Nuclear Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy. IPP supports development of non-military technologies and the creation of long-term jobs in the high-tech commercial marketplace for scientists and engineers in three of the Newly Independent States (NIS): Russian Federation, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Dr. Bozheyeva will focus on commercialized technologies.
Click here to see an outline of Bozheyeva's presentation.
Gulbarshyn Bozheyeva
10:30 AM -- Session 7. Marketing Challenges.
Led by Emmett McLoughlin, President of the Fair Winds Trading Company has had two decades of marketing experiences in Germany, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Japan. He will facilitate a general meeting of participants, helping to identify “haves” and “wants” and attempting some “matchmaking.”
Emmett McLoughlin
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