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«The Russian Banking Sector: Meeting the Global Challenge» conference, sponsored by Alfa-Bank, took place on October 31. The conference was attended by over 100 journalists from leading foreign and domestic media.

At the conference, spokesmen for the Finance Ministry, the government, the State Duma, the Bank of Russia and other bodies of state power told journalists their views on the situation on the international and Russian financial markets. Representatives of the business structure spoke about the latest trends in the banking sector and presented their forecasts of future developments. During roundtable discussions and briefings journalists were able to put questions to the speakers.

The speakers at the conference included Alfa-Bank President Petr Aven, Assistant to the Russian President Arkady Dvorkovich, State Duma deputy Pavel Medvedev, chairman of the board of the Russian Stock Exchange (RTS) Roman Goryunov, chairman of the board of directors of OJSC MDM-Bank Oleg Vjugin, NAUFOR board chairman Alexey Timofeev, chairman of the management board of Alfa-Bank Rushan Khvesyuk, and others.

In his statement, Mr. Aven highlighted the fact that the global financial crisis, paying particular attention to recent developments, has clearly shown that Russia has been very closely integrated into the global economy and, as a result, the crisis has affected most sectors of the Russian economy to varying degrees. He went on to say,

At the same time, I would not say that the crisis has had a disastrous effect on the economy. I think that this period will last for some time, but it will determine our position on the global market.

Special attention was paid to the relationship between the business and the authorities. «We maintain a continuous dialogue with the authorities. Alfa-Bank has proposed options for dealing with the problems and improving the current market situation both in the short and long terms. I believe that the actions of the authorities at the present time are adequate. I do not want to be overoptimistic, but it is beyond any doubt that we are confident about the present,» stressed Rushan Khvesyuk.

Such conferences have already become a tradition both for experts of the financial sector and for journalists. The first of these conferences: «The Russian Banking Sector: a View into the Future» was held in the autumn of 2006. A year later, in response to requests from Moscow and regional journalists there was a second conference: «The Russian Banking Sector: Growth Factors,» which was held in October 2007.