THE HAGUE, 18/04/07 - A conference will be held in Moscow on 25 and 26 April to celebrate the completion of the Russian Civil Code. The project was financed by the Dutch foreign ministry.

The conference is organised by the Private Law Research Centre of the Russian Presidential Administration in Moscow. Dutch Ambassador Dirkse will make an appearance at the conference.

"The Civil Code is the result of a lengthy and fruitful collaboration between the research centre and Dutch lawyers. This collaboration was coordinated by the University of Leiden's Centre for International Legal Studies and financed by the foreign ministry's Matra programme," the ministry said.

The process of reforming the Civil Code in Russia began in 1991 and was accelerated by the collapse of the Soviet Union. "Between 1993 and 1998, regular consultations took place between Dutch and Russian lawyers on the reform of the code based on the then completely new Dutch code. The finishing touches were put to the final code last autumn."