Gazprom-led International Business Congress pivots east, liquidating entity in Germany

MOSCOW. Nov 7 (Interfax) - The members of the International Business Congress (IBC), the president of which is Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, have decided to liquidate the organization's legal entity in Berlin, Germany, International Business Congress e. V.

The congress held a remote extraordinary meeting from October 17 to 27 at which members voted unanimously to approve the IBC's liquidation in Germany as of November 1 and decided on the terms for using the IBC's financial resources after the liquidation is completed, which will happen in the second quarter of 2025 at the earliest, the IBC said in a press release.

"We live in an era of fundamental changes to the world order that previously existed. I suspect that the work of the IBC in its current format has run its course in the current geopolitical conditions. Therefore we have to realign the work of the International Business Congress," Miller said in April in a clip shown on video channel Gazovaya Promyshlennost.

"In light of the changes taking place, the management board of the IBC has proposed to intensify the congress's work in countries in the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East," Miller said at the time.

The IBC, formerly known as the European Business Congress, was established in 1997 as an international, nongovernmental, non-profit organization to help develop economic cooperation among countries in Eastern and Western Europe.