MOSCOW, April 2, 2020 – We are pleased to announce that Veronica Fridman has joined the Moscow office of Gowling WLG.

Veronica is an experienced Russian lawyer specializing in intellectual property law. She graduated from the State University for Humanities in 1992 with a B.A. in History and Archives and in 1999 she obtained her law degree from the Moscow State Law Academy. She qualified as a registered Russian Trademark Attorney in the same year. She subsequently obtained a Ph.D. in jurisprudence and she teaches International IP Law at the Higher School of Economics.

Veronica acquired extensive experience in her role as Head of Intellectual Property for Jones Day in its Moscow office. Prior to that, she also worked for another US law firm with offices in Moscow. Her in-house experience includes time with Nestle.

Veronica’s focus has been on soft IP and regulatory work in the pharmaceutical field.

“Veronica is a terrific addition to our thriving IP practice in Russia” says David Aylen, Managing Partner of Gowling WLG in Russia. “We have a two-pronged platform that is focused both on helping foreign multinationals to navigate their way in Russia and on helping sophisticated Russian companies looking outwardly from Russia into other markets. Veronica fits that niche very nicely” added Aylen.

Veronica Fridman is Counsel at Gowling WLG Russia and may be reached as follows:

e-mail: veronica.fridman@gowlingwlg.com

tel.: +7 (495) 787 20 70

Gowling WLG (International) Inc.

11 Gogolevsky Boulevard,

Moscow, Russia

110109

About Gowling WLG:

For three decades, Gowling WLG has been a recognized leader in the protection of intellectual property rights in Russia and the CIS region. Through the strength of our Moscow office, the firm continues to deliver strategic advice and tailored solutions in all aspects of IP law to a global clientele. We are a trusted adviser to many of the world’s leading innovators and brand owners on the Fortune Global 500 list. Clients appreciate the superior quality of our services, strategic and practical approach, and responsiveness. Learn more

18 March – The global pandemic has forced millions of employees to work from home, all with relatively little training or preparation for those are unused to doing so. The current state of affairs heightens cybersecurity risks for businesses of all sizes. Below are some of the challenges and suggested measures to minimize these risks.

Data loss and privacy breaches

Remote work increases the likelihood that:

• Devices with company data will be lost or stolen (e.g. laptops or devices left in cabs or public places; thumb drives misplaced)
• Employees will use computers or devices that are less protected than office-issued equipment, or that operate entirely outside the umbrella of the company's cybersecurity measures (e.g. firewalls; virus protection; login access controls)
• Employees will rely on unsecured wi-fi connections in public spaces (coffee shops, public libraries, etc.) that are more susceptible to attack than secure office connections

These factors increase the likelihood of loss of corporate data and of privacy breaches from the leaking of private information belonging to employees and customers.

Make sure your employees are aware of company policies governing device use and security. If you don't have such policies, now is a good time to consider putting them in place.

Heightened vulnerability to cyber attacks

Cyber criminals and recreational hackers are turning people's curiosity and anxiety against them with attacks targeted to users seeking COVID-19 information (e.g. some hackers are sending phishing emails purporting to come from health or medical organizations, or even World Health Organization officials; others are posting malware-infested virus maps online to collect users' personal information). 

The proliferation of such attacks increases the likelihood that some will succeed.  Remind employees of their information security training and the danger of clicking on unsolicited emails. If you haven't implemented mandatory regular information security training for employees, you should do so as soon as practicable.

Slackened financial controls

More executives working remotely means it may be harder to implement existing financial controls to prevent fraud (e.g. collection of signatures approving transactions is more difficult; in-person meetings or calls to verify that instructions sent via email aren't fake are more difficult when executives aren't in the office or easily reachable by phone). Companies should be monitoring transactions closely and ensuring that any approval workarounds still allow for proper authentication of instructions.

Looking ahead

This crisis will test the cybersecurity posture of Canadian businesses and for many the lessons will be harsh and expensive. If you discovery a cybersecurity breach, follow your incident response plan. If you have cyber insurance, contact your designated breach coach immediately. If you don't have cyber insurance, you should call your lawyers immediately and ask for a breach coach to co-ordinate your response and recovery efforts. Every hour and day counts in responding to a data breach.

*Article provided by Gowling WLG, link to the original source: https://gowlingwlg.com/en/insights-resources/articles/2020/covid-19-raises-cybersecurity-risks/

Temporary restriction of entry of foreign citizens and stateless persons to the Russian Federation

To ensure national security, protect the health of the population and curb the spread of the coronavirus infection in line with Russian law and the provisions of the applicable international treaties, the Government of the Russian Federation made a decision to temporarily restrict the entry of foreign citizens and stateless persons to the Russian Federation, starting midnight of March 18, 2020 local time until midnight of May 1, 2020 local time.

The entry restrictions would not apply to diplomatic mission and consular office staff in the Russian Federation, vehicle drivers on international roads, aircraft, ship and boat crews, international railway train crews, members of official delegations, and persons with diplomatic, service or ordinary private visas that were issued in connection with the death of a close relative, persons that permanently live in the Russian Federation or persons that go through air border crossing points.

The measures taken by the Russian Federation conform to the recommendations of the World Health Organisation, are caused by special circumstances and are only temporary.

 https://canada.mid.ru/en_US/web/canada-en/-/temporary-restriction-of-entry-of-foreign-citizens-and-stateless-persons-to-the-russian-federation?inheritRedirect=true&redirect=%2Fen_US%2Fweb%2Fcanada-en

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Temporary travel restrictions imposed by the Government of the Republic of  Kazakhstan:

Country entering restrictions:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=565782090723262&id=357100411591432

http://www.mfa.kz/en/content-view/-3580

reduction of the number of international flights:

http://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/miid/press/news/details/o-priostanovlenii-i-sokrashchenii-mezhdunarodnyh-aviareysov?lang=en

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Temporary travel restrictions imposed by the Government of the Republic of  Uzbekistan:

https://www.uzbekistan.org/news/view?id=318 

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Temporary travel restrictions imposed by the Government of Mongolia:

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/mongolia-travel-advisory.html  

CERBA Mining Conference 2020 sets forth ideas for more Cooperation and Investments Across Eurasia

On the 3rd of March 2020, more than 120 distinguished delegates assembled in Toronto to participate in the 20th Anniversary CERBA Eurasia Mining Conference as a part of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention 2020. The Conference brought together experts from business, purchasing, government, diplomatic, consulting, academic and non-profit backgrounds. The public sector was represented by the line-up of the foremost experts in geology, infrastructure development, ecology, and senior state officials from Canada, Russian Federation, Republic of Kazakhstan, Republic of Belarus, Republic of Uzbekistan and Mongolia. Private sector participants included top representatives of leading mining companies – Kinross Gold Corporation, Cameco, Seequent, B2Gold, GV-Gold, Macro-Advisory, RosGeolExpertisa, Metalloinvest, Kazakh Invest and others. 

The 2020 CERBA Eurasia Mining Conference continued the dialogue on the major trends in the industry, as well as occurring macro shifts throughout member-states of the association that facilitate better economic exchange and greater investments. The program included sessions focusing on the first-hand analysis of the latest development in geology and mining, evolving legal and regulatory frameworks, denationalization programs, protection of property rights, deepening international cooperation and potential investment opportunities. Fruitful discussions and diverse cohorts of speakers shaped a better understanding of significant reforms taking place across Eurasian nations that transform existing long-term patterns by implementing the best global practices, enhance openness to international exchange and investments, reveal diversity and volumes of natural resources.

CERBA Eurasia Mining Conference 2020 started with welcome remarks from distinguished speakers, including H.E. Alexander Darchiev, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Canada; H.E. Ariunbold Yadmaa, Ambassador of Mongolia to Canada; H.E. Nicholas Brousseau, Ambassador of Canada to the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan; Mr. Stephane Jobin, Deputy Ambassador of Canada to Russian Federation, Republic of Uzbekistan and Armenia; Mr. Evgeny Russak, Charge d’Affairs, Minister-Counsellor of the Republic of Belarus to Canada and Mr. Murat Rustemov, Counsellor, Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Canada. 

Both sessions were moderated by Mr. Lou Naumovski, Non-Executive Director of Trans-Siberian Gold and Amur Minerals Corporation and Senior Advisor to Seequent LLC. 

The first session of the Conference featured five speakers. 

Mr. Ruslan Baimishev, Vise-Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, talked about current state subsoil use regulations and the latest mining code updates. Mr. Baimishev had also presented the adoption of western practices, including the mining laws of Western Australia and country’s registration under the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), both of which give confidence to potential investors.

Mr. Alexey Rudnev, Head of Geology Department in Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation and ROSNEDRA, raised a topic on development prospects of subsoil use in the Russian Federation, as well as the positive tendency in subsoil license obtention based on the newly introduced declarative principle.

Mr. Azam Kadirhodjaev, Deputy Chairman of GosComGeology in the Republic of Uzbekistan, discussed the maintenance of a favourable investment climate in the mining sector and opportunities for project development for foreign companies. 

Mr. J.P. Natkin, Partner of Macro-Advisory LTD, gave a macro-economic and politics update in the Eurasian region.

And last but not least, Ms. Dilyara Tektigulova, Project Director of Kazakh Invest JSC, talked about prospects and investment opportunities in the mining and metallurgical industry of Kazakhstan.

The second session was opened by Mr. Claude Schimper, Senior Vice-President of Russia Operations at Kinross Gold Corporation, presenting Kinross Gold’s investor experience in Russia. Mr. Schimper spoke about the latest developments in the “Kupol-Dvoinoye” project and the newly introduced “Chulbatkan” exploration program.

Mr. Vladislav Barshinov, CEO of GV-Gold, talked about operational efficiency improvement and processes improvement on the example of “Ugahan” GOK. 

Mr. Sean Quinn, Senior Vice-President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Cameco took a look at the strong partnership that was developed between Cameco and Kazatomprom since 1992 on an example of the “Inkai” Uranium deposit in Kazakhstan. 

Ms. Inna Shalovenkova, Country Manager of Russia and CIS at Seequent LLC, raised a topic of digitalization of hard rock mineral and metals exploration and its influence on the wealth of economies from mining.

The official part of the Conference was followed by a 2-hour Cocktail Reception that gave participants a chance to network with industry leaders and further discuss goals and opportunities in the mining sector. Attendees strengthened old connections and found new ones.

Mr. Gilles Breton, National Chairman of the Board of CERBA, said: “This year’s Conference underlined the deepening interest across North America in learning about major mining trends throughout Eurasia and exploring investment opportunities. I am confident that consistent improvements in institutional frameworks and evolving patterns of international cooperation will only continue to enhance attention to our events and ways of bringing together key representatives of the industry.”

....

For more information, please visit www.cerbamining.com

Conference Brochure can be found here>>

Please, review the Session Presentations here>>

All the Conference Photography can be found here>>

Conference Post-Release can be found here >>

Video Streaming can be found here >> 

LONDON - Gowling WLG offices have been named the Russian “Patent Firm of the Year” and the Canadian “Trademark Firm of the Year” at the Global IP Awards held in London on 29 January. Now in their second year, the Global IP Awards recognize the world's leading Intellectual Property (IP) law firms, based on IAM's and WTR's reporting and analysis of notable IP achievements in litigation, prosecution, and transactional work over the past year.

Gowling WLG partners Shelagh Carnegie and Vladislav Ugryumov attended the ceremony in London to accept the awards.

The 2020 Global IP Award is the latest in recent international recognition of the Moscow office of Gowling WLG’s IP strength and committed work for its clients. In 2019, it won the Global IP Award for Russia’s “IP Firm of the Year,” and was cited as a leading firm in IP in Russia by Chambers Global 2019, MIP IP Stars 2019, Legal 500 EMEA 2019, and Who’s Who Legal 2019 Trademarks and Patents.

“On behalf of the whole team in Moscow, I can say that we are all delighted and honoured to be taking home a Global IP Award for a second year in a row,” said David Aylen, managing partner of Gowling WLG in Russia and the CIS. “It demonstrates our energetic dedication to building our intellectual property law services in Russia and our complete commitment to our clients in providing them with the very best of these services.”

About Gowling WLG’s IP Group

Gowling WLG is a full-service firm comprising 1400 professionals with strength across all areas of business law and litigation. With leading IP practices in Canada, the UK and Europe, Russia, China, the UAE and Singapore and a network of trusted agents worldwide, we help IP owners overcome complex obstacles and optimize new opportunities – wherever business takes them. Learn more

Contact:

Madina Assylbekova

Director of Strategy and Business Development RUSSIA/CIS

+7 495 775 4863

madina.assylbekova@gowlingwlg.com

Headquartered in the city of Nur-Sultan the AIFC is gradually becoming a financial hub on this untapped and financial service-wise pristine territory between Frankfurt and Tokyo. From year to year, more and more foreign nationals chose Nur-Sultan as their temporary and permanent destination, be it for investment, work, educational, or tourism purposes. 

Today Nur-Sultan is inevitably becoming a nascent cosmopolitan, vibrant community, where people of all races and colours, professions and walks of life come together.

The ever-growing spate of foreign nationals to the Nur-Sultan locality engendered the timely and in no way superfluous decision to establish a one-of-a-kind and unique to the regions of West and Central Asia, the Caucasus, EAEU, the Middle East, West China and Mongolia – the one and only Expat Centre.

The AIFC Expat Centre is a specialised multifunctional institution, designated to foster the expedite integration of the foreign nationals into Kazakhstan society on a one-stop-shop basis.  It provides foreign nationals with access to an ample variety of government and socially oriented soft-landing services in English.

The AIFC Expat Centre has all the primary need one might have, covered in a single place.  Here the foreign national may access more than 500 government services with no hassle and delinquencies.  All inquiries pertaining to Kazakh visa and registration issues can be settled in the AIFC Expat Centre in no time by courtesy of the government support and presence of all state decision-making officials on site. Along with all these services, the Centre provides the foreign nationals with the access to vehicle registration and obtaining the national driver’s license, as well as tax and revenue related service on site. If it so happens that the foreign national is struggling with becoming an investor in Kazakhstan, the full-fledge support and assistance by the the Investor Service Centre are available at the Centre. This all came possible due to the systemic support of the National and local governments.

Moreover, should a foreign national require an assistance in finding an accommodation, an educational facility for toddlers (English language based schools, daycares and nursery centres), or a hospital, the AIFC Expat Centre will gather up all the necessary information and make all the arrangements on the client’s behalf in the shortest time frames possible. 

Toachieve the AIFC goals and create a comfortable environment for investors, a unique preferential visa regime was introduced. Therefore, no work permit is required to attract foreign employees for the AIFC Participants. The AIFC foreign employees and their family members, may obtain working and dependent visas for a period of up to 5 years. In applying for visa and migration services, the simplified procedures are provided for the AIFC Participants.

AIFC is currently working on another great solution for investors, which is the residency by investment program. The program suggests that an investor has an opportunity of receiving an investor visa valid for up to 5 years in exchange for the investments in securities and investment funds listed on AIX and companies created in accordance with AIFC law.

In addition to the abovementioned, the investor has an opportunity of receiving tax residence status in Kazakhstan if he spends not less than 90 days in Kazakhstan and delivers the payment to the state budget. The investors that participate in AIFC residency by investment program and become Kazakhstan tax residents will be exempt from the payment of IIT on foreign income.

It is expected that the residency by investment program will be valid by the third quarter of 2020.

Gowling WLG is pleased to announce that it has appointed Yulia Yarnykh as partner as of January 1, 2020.

Yulia has been with the firm for nine years, serving as counsel for the past year.She advises international clients on a wide range of IP issues, including enforcement of intellectual property rights, unfair competition, and regulatory and commercial IP. Her practice’s focus on IP and corporate and commercial law ensure that she is consistently an invaluable resource for clients relying on her rich background in compliance and regulatory matters in media, e-commerce, data protection, competition, advertising and pharmaceuticals. International and local companies seek her expertise in conducting anti-piracy campaigns against counterfeiters and parallel importers, and in structuring their franchise and distribution networks in many of the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, including Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. She is also actively engaged in other IP transactional work.

“It has been a pleasure working with Yulia these past years, and I’m delighted by her appointment as partner” says David Aylen, managing partner of Gowling WLG’s Moscow office. “We operate in crucial markets for our clients. Russia and the many surrounding countries in the region require careful planning and in-depth knowledge of their legal systems. Yulia’s move to partner is perfectly in line with our continuing strategy to build our widely acknowledged intellectual property law services across Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. And Yulia has been a vital force in driving our client-oriented philosophy. Her energy, expertise, knowledge, and determination are a great asset to both our local and global operations.” 

“Over the years, I have watched as our office has developed,” Yulia says. “It really brings me joy. It is such a great team of young, energetic, client-oriented professionals who know how to work with international clients and to understand their expectations. And there is the special bond with our clients. With the clients that I have been serving for many years, there is a very high level of respect and trust. I look forward to that respect and trust growing in the future.”

________________________________________

ABOUT GOWLING WLG:

Gowling WLG is a global law firm with over 1,400 legal professionals and a range of dedicated support teams across 18 cities in Canada, the UK, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The firm provides world-class legal expertise and multi-jurisdictional support in key global sectors. It is also home to one of the world's premier full-service intellectual property practices.

ABOUT GOWLING WLG RUSSIA/CIS:

For nearly three decades, Gowling WLG has been a recognized leader in the protection of intellectual property rights in Russia and the CIS region. Through the strength of our Moscow office, the firm continues to deliver strategic advice and tailored solutions in all aspects of IP law to a global clientele.

We are a trusted adviser to many of the world’s leading innovators and brand owners on the Fortune Global 500 list. Clients appreciate the superior quality of our services, strategic and practical approach, and responsiveness. Learn more

Contact:

Madina Assylbekova

Director of Strategy and Business Development RUSSIA/CIS

+7 495 775 4863

madina.assylbekova@gowlingwlg.com

© Article by Forbes Contributor – Rainer Michael Preiss

Global investors tend to group Kazakhstan along with Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), but its market fundamentals are markedly different and they appear to offer some interesting investment opportunities going into 2020.

First and foremost, the government has been pursuing a privatization program that aims to raise $7 billion by selling stakes in around 900 companies. The world’s largest landlocked country is taking a page from the playbook of Margaret Thatcher, the U.K.’s former prime minister, who saw privatization as “fundamental to improving Britain’s economic performance”.

Meanwhile, the countries of Central Asia are in talks to create something along the same lines as ASEAN, the Nordic Council, the Visegrád Group for Central European states or Mercosur for South America. On November 29, Kazakhstan’s First President Nursultan Nazarbayev joined with the leaders of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Kyrgyz Republic to declare that they would work toward joint development and cooperation in areas that range from economic trade and investment to infrastructure, tourism, science and culture. Positive developments like these are winning plaudits.

Kazakhstan jumped eight positions to reach No. 28 in the World Bank Group's Doing Business 2019 report that ranks the world's top economies for their ease of doing business. Kazakhstan’s ranking places it ahead of No. 30 Spain, No. 46 China and No. 77 India.

And Kazakhstan isn’t alone. Neighboring Uzbekistan, which is ranked No. 76 in the same rankings and has recently opened up for foreign investment, looks set to spur a “healthy rivalry” in Central Asia that will potentially boost the economy of Kazakhstan, according to the International Monetary Fund. The competition will make both countries policymakers work harder to further improve transparency, their policy frameworks and business environment.

The recently held Almaty Investment Forum aimed to firmly position Almaty and Kazakhstan as the center of Central Asia’s economic development. Kazakhstan's policymaker hope to make the country’s largest city, Almaty, into a significant transport, logistics and tourism hub on the new Silk Road. This year’s forum saw 31 agreements worth $2.3 billion signed between various government agencies and the business community in late November.

Kazakhstan also plans to offer investment residency status to foreigners investing at least $60,000 into equities at the Astana International Financial Center’s stock exchange, the center's governor, Kairat Kelimbetov told Bloomberg News recently. Investors will be guaranteed a five-year multi-entry visa. The measure, aimed at nationals from the former Soviet Union republics and Middle East, is expected to raise KZT100b (over $250 million) within the five years of the start of the program.

Kazakhstan’s real interest rates are expected to remain relatively attractive in the near term with the National Bank of Kazakhstan’s base rate at 9.25%, and an expected slowdown in inflation to the mid-range of the 4% to 6% target corridor throughout 2020.

Kazakhstan is certainly a value investment at the moment. KASE (Kazakhstan Stock Exchange) trades at a price-earnings ratio of 6.44, a dividend yield of 3.73% and a Price-to-book of 0.9. In comparison, the MSCI World Equities Index trades at a P/E ratio of 20.04 and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index trades at P/E ratio of 14.67.

CERBA Corporate member FTL Advisers Ltd, a law firm specializing on business support services for private and corporate clients, got included in IFLR1000 (International Financial Law Review), the only international rating of the best law firms specializing in the field of financial and corporate law. FTL Advisors is present in 2 categories of the rating: Banking (Banking and financial law), as well as Restructuring and Insolvency (Restructuring and Bankruptcy). The results have already been published on the rating website.https://www.iflr1000.com/Firm/FTL-Advisers-Russia/Profile/34308#rankings

This year, FTL advisors Ltd. also for the first time was included by the World Tax rating in the General Corporate Tax category. https://www.itrworldtax.com/Firm/FTL-Advisers-Russia/Profile/4014#rankings

FTL Advisers corporate website: https://ftl-advisers.ru/