Moscow, 14 December 2005. The International Conference "Building a Market for Products, Services and Technologies For Electricity Industry on the Basis of B2B-Energo Information and Trading System" is being held today in Moscow. Among the Conference participants are Chairman of the Management Board of RAO "UES of Russia Anatoly Chubais, Head of EC Delegation to Russia Marc Franco, Vice President of Siemens AG Henrik Fristazki, and Head of the Energy Committee of the Association of European Businesses Reiner Hartmann. Speeches at the Conference will be delivered by officials from the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Russia, the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia, and suppliers to RAO "UES of Russia".

The event participants will make a detailed analysis of prospects for the development of international trade and economic cooperation through creation of a common information and trading space using new generation e-business technologies. Further, they will address the issues of harmonizing the Russian and international standards and certification systems in the course of reform of the technical regulation system, and the foreign companies' experience of activities on the Russian market for products, services and technologies.

The event participants will also discuss the steps being taken by RAO "UES of Russia" to promote wider use of e-commerce in procurement. The Information and Trading System "Market for products, services and technologies for the electricity industry B2B-energo" used by RAO UESR entities is rapidly growing and yielding tangible economic benefits.

Since the launch of B2B-Energy, the overall trading volume in the system has topped RUB21.9 billion. Over the period, over 3,280 auctions and tenders have been announced on the marketplace, and over 10,600 requests for quotations and bids have been made.

Today, there are over 3 970 B2B-Energo users. Among them are the major vendors of equipment and technologies for the electricity industry, such as OAO "Power Machines", OAO "ENERGOMASH", ZAO "Krasny Kotelshchik", FGUP "Technopromexport", and OOO "Siemens". Entities from 23 countries are active in the B2B-Energo system.

___________________________________________

RAO "UES of Russia" is one of the major buyers of goods, services and technologies. The value of procurements is in excess of RUB300 billion annually from over 8,000 companies supplying more than 50,000 items of goods.

The competitive procurement system has been in use at the Holding Company since 1999. The system is intended to improve the manageability of cash flows, enhance transparency of spending, and reduce energy companies' expenses.