Over 60 representatives of federal and regional Business Ombudsman Offices of the four project pilot regions and 21 other regions, as well as high-level representatives of executive and legislative bodies, legal firms, and business associations of the Krasnodar Krai participated in the first workshop on “Corruption practices affecting the procurement process at the municipal level in the Russian Federation”, organised by the PRECOP II project.

Mr Boris Titov, Federal Ombudsman for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs in the Russian Federation, addressed the audience and underlined the importance of fighting corruption affecting business sector at the municipal level given that it is in the municipalities where in particular small and medium-size enterprises face the biggest obstacles in various corruption-prone fields, including procurement. He thanked the Council of Europe for continuous support provided since 2013 when PRECOP RF was launched and reaffirmed his commitment to continue successful cooperation in order to achieve tangible results.

The workshop provided an opportunity for all relevant stakeholders to discuss and provide comments on the main findings and recommendations of the draft Study on corruption practices affecting the procurement process at the municipal level in the Russian Federation, prepared by the team of Council of Europe experts with input from the Working Group established by the project and consisting of representatives of the Regional Business Ombudsman Offices of the four pilot regions and of the Federal Business Ombudsman Office.