Russian Corporations Show Foresight in Supporting Moscow Demographic Summit and Families

WASHINGTON, June 23, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- World Congress of Families Managing Director Larry Jacobs praised four Russian corporations for their support, financial and in kind, for the "Moscow Demographic Summit: Family and The Future of Humankind," June 29-30 at the Russian State Social University.

"These businesses have shown leadership, vision and commitment to serving the community," Jacobs observed. "They are rightly concerned about Russia's looming demographic crisis – a birthrate well below replacement level and a declining population that could decrease by 50 million people in the next 35 years.  By the year 2050, there will be 248 million fewer children under 5 years-old in the world than there are today.  "If current trends continue, where will the future workers and customers for Russian companies come from?  A far-sighted, successful company is concerned about more than this year's balance sheet."

The Summit will focus on the worldwide decline in fertility, over the past half-century, which has hit rich nations and poor, developed and developing, in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.  Speakers from Russia, the United States, South America, Europe and Asia will consider the origins of demographic winter, its impact and family-centered solutions.

World Congress of Families and the Summit's Russian organizer, Alexey Komov, gratefully acknowledge the following corporations as sponsors of the Moscow Demographic Summit:

OJSC "Financial Corporation URALSIB" – one of the largest Russian financial holdings companies, providing its customers with a wide range of financial services: retail and corporate banking, investment banking, leasing, brokerage and custody services, and asset and wealth management. The structure of the Financial Corporation includes banking, commercial banking, leasing, investment-banking, asset management and private bank sub-holdings. As of January 1, 2011 URALSIB's network included more than 469 sales points in 49 regions of Russia.

Interros -- one of the largest private investment companies in Russia.  Its key projects are concentrated in metals and mining, mass media, real estate and tourism and the financial sector, through various subsidiaries. At the beginning of 2011, the total value of assets managed by Interros was approximately $20 billion U.S.  80% of Interros's investments are located in the territory of the Russian Federation.

TMK -- Russia's largest manufacturer and exporter of steel pipes, TMK ranks among the top three pipe producers in the world. TMK was founded in 2001 and has production facilities in Russia, the United States, Romania and Kazakhstan.

Rosinter Restaurants -- is the leading casual dining chain in Russia and the CIS. Rosinter is Russia's first and only restaurant company to be listed on the Russian Trading System (RTS). Rosinter operates 362 restaurants in 40 cities and 9 countries. With more than 8,000 employees, in 2010, it served over 46,300 meals a day.

Jacobs noted that business support for the Summit comes at a crucial economic time, "The support of these Russian corporate giants shows a growing awareness of the relationship of family and fertility to a sound economy.  It's not Russia alone that's experiencing economic challenges and demographic winter.  Worldwide, birthrates have declined by more than 50% since the late 1960s.  This birth dearth will be one of the greatest challenges confronting economics and humanity in the 21st century."

For the website of the Moscow Demographic Summit (in English and Russian), including registration information, go to: www.worldcongress.ru.

For More Information on World Congress of Families, go to www.worldcongress.org.  To schedule an interview with WCF Managing Director Larry Jacobs contact Don Feder at 508-405-1337, [email protected] or Lisa Youngblood at 815-964-5819, [email protected].

The World Congress of Families (WCF) is an international network of pro-family organizations, scholars, leaders and people of goodwill from more than 60  countries that seek to restore the natural family as the fundamental social unit and the 'seedbed' of civil society (as found in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948).  The WCF was founded in 1997 by Allan Carlson and is a project of The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society in Rockford, Illinois.  To date, there have been five World Congresses of Families – Prague (1997), Geneva (1999), Mexico City (2004), Warsaw, Poland (2007) and Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2009).  World Congress of Families VI will be held in Madrid, Spain in May 25-27, 2012.

SOURCE World Congress of Families