On June 2, the Congress College business community, which exists under the aegis of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC), held a meeting with the Chairman of the Moscow City Duma Vladimir Platonov. The meeting was part of the College program “Partnership Between Business and the Authorities.”

The hero of the day was introduced by the chairman of the Congress College, EAJC Vice President Yuri Raskin and the Councilor of the Mayor of Moscow, Director General of the Moscow International Business Association Alexander Borisov. Vladimir Platonov gave a short report on the interaction of business and the executive authorities of Moscow, after which the participants of the meeting and journalists asked questions over the course of two hours, including both concrete questions on different aspects of doing business in Moscow, and general questions on politics, culture, ecology, and international relations. Deputies of the Moscow City Duma Mikhail Moskvin-Tarkhanov, Ivan Novitsky, and Igor Protopopov also answered questions.

The head of the Moscow Duma answered questions on improving the business climate in the Russian capital and the expansion of the private-governmental partnership to solving the economic questions of the city's development. In particular, he spoke about changes in the city legislation on buying rented space by representatives of the lesser and medium businesses, as well as on interactions between Moscow and the regions in solving problems of infrastructure, on the existing contradictions between the needs of the capital in labor force and the actual situation with migrants, on using the newest technologies to dispose of waste, and of the problems of the owners of architectural sites connectd with their necessary reconstruction.

During an exchange of opinions on the current problems of the Russian capital and their possible solutions, EAJC Secretary General, Professor Michael Chlenov pointed out to the leader and deputies of the Moscow City Duma the fact that the anti-Semitic fake “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” are being freely sold in the capital's book stores. Vladimir Platonov proposed to try and solve the problem together, and to keep in contact about it. The head of the capital's parliament noted many times that the Moscow executive authorities are not just ready for, but are truly hoping to maintain a productive dialogue with the residents of Moscow on all questions of city life. Platonov said that parliamentaries are “free lobbyists” of the interests of their electorate, including the representatives of the business world.

Several guests of the College participated in the exchange – Plenipotentiary Representative of the Government of the Russian Federation at the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, and the Higher Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation Mikhail Barshchevsky, President of the Guild of Russian Advocates Gasan Mirzoyev, and the head of the insurance company “Spasskiye Vorota” Boris Hait.

At the end of the meeting, Vladimir Platonov and Yuri Raskin noted that the meeting could be seen as a step forward in the development of a mutually beneficial relationship between the Moscow executive authorities and business as represented by the Congress College.