On 16 May 2019, Squire Patton Boggs’ Moscow office hosted a roundtable, titled “PPP-related Legislative Reforms in Eurasian Economic Union and European Union: Global, Regional and Local Trends Amid Increasing Competition for Private Investments”, as part of the IX St. Petersburg International Legal Forum 2019.
The roundtable discussion, held in the historical venue of Tavrichesky Palace, was presented along with Pravo.ru, the major Russian legal media and the editor of Pravo.ru-300, Russia’s leading legal rating, and the Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States (IPA CIS). The discussion focused on the reforms of the public-private partnership (PPP) legal framework, PPP trends and pilot projects in the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union, featuring leading players of the global and Russian PPP markets.
The panel included partner Alexander Dolgov and senior associate Konstantin Makarevich, from Squire Patton Boggs’ Moscow office, senior counsel Alexei Zverev from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Tony Bonnici, deputy director of the International PPP Center of Excellence at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, and other senior professionals from PPP centres and leading private companies, as well as high-profile independent experts and experienced financiers from Armenia, France, Kazakhstan, Russia, the UK, Uzbekistan and other countries.
More than 50 guests attended the event, including general counsels and top management from engineering and construction companies, energy companies, developers and financial institutions.
During the event, Alexander Dolgov presented a new book, Development of PPP in CIS, which he has co-authored with Konstantin Makarevich and Alexei Zverev, to Dmitriy Kobitskiy, Secretary General – Head of the IPA CIS Council Secretariat.
Alexander Dolgov commented: “Public-private partnerships are developing and becoming more complex over time, and the legislative regulation of the industry is changing with it. There are common trends in PPP legislative landscape and government policy in the countries of Eurasian Economic Union and European Union, although some concepts, including the basic ones such as concession, are very different. Integration processes across the region also pose a challenge and PPP regulation does not always keep pace with it. Our broad-ranging discussions focused on the transformation of PPPs, current regulations and practical applications, and on understanding where they go next.”