WYG International was the lead organisation in this project, which was designed to assist the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MEDT) of the Russian Federation to take forward the government’s programme of economic reform by providing assistance with deregulation of the economy and removal of administrative barriers. Although much progress had been made in Russia in liberalising the economy, the MEDT recognised that much remained to be done to facilitate development of the private sector and to increase its contribution to economic growth.

The priority areas were identified in previous work supported by the World Bank and EBRD which reported on administrative barriers related to customs, land codes, licensing, certification, business registration and the activities of regulatory and enforcement agencies. WYG International assisted the strengthening of the institutional capacity of the MEDT in order to help it develop legislation and methodologies to deregulate the economy, drafting practical recommendations and developing licensing and technical standards in connection with regulation.

The project had a strong federal component working at Ministry level and was also active in the north-west, central and Urals Federal Okrugs where collaboration was maintained with the President’s representative offices. Close ties were established with regional governments in Kaliningrad, Velikiy Novgorod, Leningrad and Sverdlovsk Oblasts and with the City of St Petersburg.