"If Russia is to become a major financial center, we need to embrace evolving corporate governance standards," Shuvalov said.
Deputy Prime Minister Zhukov backed this up:
"We want to be seen as a country with a good deal of responsibility in business..."
So I suppose that means it's all OK then. Remember though that this comes at a time when the State seems determined to take control of BP's Russian subsidiary through political, rather than market, channels (throwing in challenges such as heavy back taxes and visa problems for company employees). Perhaps this real-life tussle gives a truer picture of the current state of commercial affairs there.
As a result, I found another comment in the same article, on the role of government-appointed directors to state-owned company boards, rather more plausible:
"Very often, the time they devote to reading documents on the situation in the company amounts to the time they spend in a traffic jam on their way to a board meeting."
Yes, I know, it could never happen here. I hope not. But I'm still dismayed at the number of Board courier packs I see ripped open for the first time on the early-morning flight to the meeting - never mind that the papers are on view up the aisle for anyone to read. The director has at best 30-45 minutes to skim their papers; they can't hope to have a full grasp of the issues they'll be dealing with a few hours later.
If you're going to do this job properly, minimising the risk to yourself and the rest of your board, as well as the company, you need to know what's in those papers: not just the content, but you need enough time to think about the issues they raise.
If you don't, you just might end up in the position of the board of the New York Stock Exchange (other side of the Atlantic this time) a few years ago: thanks to their Board members not reading their papers in advance, they ended up having to pay their departing CEO about $US140 million (oh, and it was a not-for-profit).
Happy reading!
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