Russia's leadership of the new "Forum of Gas Exporting Countries"
- By Professor Prabhu Guptara
- Published 12/28/2008
Professor Prabhu Guptara
Professor Prabhu Guptara is Executive Director, Organisational Development, Wolfsberg (a subsidiary of UBS - one of the largest banks in the world). He is also Freeman of the City of London and of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, and Chartered Fellow of the of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development; he is also Fellow: of the Institute of Directors, of the Royal Commonwealth Society, and of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts Commerce and Manufactures; and he continues to supervise PhD research at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) as well as to be Visiting Professor at various Universities and Business Schools around the world.
Earlier roles include: a Governor of the Polytechnic of Central London, Member of the Council of the British Institute of Management, of the International Federation of Training & Development Organisations (IFTDO), of the Association for Management Education and Development (UK), of the South East Regional Council of the Confederation of British Industry.
Judge, 1988 National Training Awards, 1980 Commonwealth Poetry Prize, 1990 & 1991 Deo Gloria Prize for Fiction; Chair of the Panel of Judges, Deo Gloria Prize 1992 & 1993.
Experience with an enormous range of organisations including: Akzo Nobel (Netherlands), the Associated Banks Institute (Germany), Barclays Bank (UK), British Petroleum (UK), the Council of Europe, Cultor (Finland), Deutsche Bank (Germany), Groupe Bull (France), Federation of Finnish Engineers (Finland), the International Management Association of Japan, Kemira (Finland), Kraft Jakob Suchard (Switzerland), Leadership Academy (Finland), Nokia Telecommunications (Finland), Novo Nordisk (Denmark), Sedgwick International Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers (UK), Singapore Institute of Management, Sonatrach (Algeria), Sun Alliance (UK), UNCTAD, Valeo (France), and so on.
Organiser, chair and lecturer by invitation for numerous international conferences, he has contributed widely to radio and television in the UK and other countries (The Money Program, Any Questions) and has written for Financial Times (London, UK), The Guardian, The Times and other publications; articles, for example, in The Gower Handbook of Management, The Gower Handbook of Quality, and the International Encyclopedia of Business & Management (Routledge).
A CD-ROM has been issued of his lecture at the Professorenforum, University of Zurich, titled "Making the World Better - Why it does NOT happen...and what TO DO about it"
Further information available from rbadertscher@coba.ch
His best-known research publication is "Top Executives in the Global 100 Companies and their IT-Competence" (ADVANCE: Management Training Ltd., UK, and Wolfsberg Executive Development Centre, Switzerland, 1998); and he is included in Debrett's People of Today and in Who's Who in the World. Professor Prabhu Guptara lives in Switzerland.
Though this newly-constituted group will not be able to flex its muscles properly for a decade or so, it is being led by Russia while being headquartered in Doha (Qatar).
Why will the new Forum be unable to flex its muscles properly for a decade or so? Because its ability to fix prices and influence production is limited by the long-term supply contracts that are usual in the gas industry. Moreover, in comparison to oil, the transportation possibilities are relatively limited.
What is the significance of its being led by Russia but being headquartered in Doha? It indicates that Russia intends this new bloc to help build its interest in the Muslim middle east.
The stage is being set for Russia's public policy stance against Israel to be strengthened - preparing the way for what the book of Revelations indicates will be the situation at the end of human history as we know it.
That does not mean that the end of human history is around the corner! Though it could be... there are still several things in Revelations that need to be fulfilled, but they *could* start happening quite quickly.
In any case, history ends for us human beings with death and, even though we don't like to think about it at all, let alone as inevitable, we don't know if we will live another day, another hour or even another minute.
Better to live thankfully and as well as one can each day, in spite of the circumstances, than worry one's head too much about a future that one may not live to see. What we will certainly see is a performance evaluation by a CEO who knows everything and from whom nothing can be hidden, and who is able (unlike most CEOs) to reward absolutely everyone appropriately.
Professor Prabhu Guptara
