The Eurasia Foundation announced today that it transferred most of its Russia program to the locally-registered New Eurasia Foundation (FNE), a unique American-European-Russian public-private partnership. The Eurasia Foundation has encouraged the development of this partnership for the past two years in order to attract international support for civil society in Russia. 

Founding partners in this new cooperative effort are the Eurasia Foundation, the Madariaga European Foundation of Brussels and the Dynasty Foundation of Moscow. FNE has received a $25 million commitment from the U.S. government beginning in FY2004; multimillion dollar support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Open Society Institute and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation; a pledge from Javier Solana, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign and Defense Policy, that he will raise 10 million euros from European funders; and $750,000 from the Dynasty Foundation. 

According to Charles William Maynes, president of the Eurasia Foundation, the three major goals of the New Eurasia Foundation are to support the continued development of Russian civil society, to encourage a growing number of private Russian donors to support civil society in their own country and to foster the adoption of practices and procedures that assist Russia to become a prosperous, democratic state. 

As part of the launch in Moscow, the three partners organized an ambassadorial round table discussion on civil society in Russia, a grant fair that enabled others to learn of the work of the three cooperating institutions, and a gala dinner that included over 100 Russian and international guests.

Attending the dinner were officials from the Russian government, senior representatives of Russian firms and the ambassadors of Bulgaria, the European Union, Germany, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States .

Keynote speakers at the dinner included Alexander Vershbow, the U.S. ambassador to Russia; Dmitri Zimin, president of the Dynasty Foundation; Andrei Kortunov, president of FNE; Charles William Maynes, president of the Eurasia Foundation; and Nicholas Pascual de la Parte, executive advisor to Javier Solana. While a founder of the new institution, Dr. Solana was not able to be present due to his involvement in the negotiations regarding the presidential election in Ukraine.

On behalf of Dr. Solana, Mr. Pascual de la Parte said, "The aim of our partnership is simple and transparent: It is to support the continued development of civil society in Russia. My hope is that the work of the Foundation can further help the Russian people and their governments become full partners with Europe and America in the promotion of fundamental freedoms and protections that define democratic states."

In describing the partnership, Dr. Zimin said: "I value how the Eurasia Foundation and now the New Eurasia Foundation assist Russia in becoming a more modern, more politically open, more economically and scientifically advanced and more prosperous democratic state, one poised to become a full partner with other advanced states in the West."

About the Founding Members

The Dynasty Foundation is a Russia-registered non-profit organization focused on supporting Russian fundamental research in exact and natural sciences. Dynasty is currently developing a number of programs targeted at supporting students of the scientific community. In order to achieve its goals the Dynasty Foundation collaborates with leading schools, universities and research centers in Russia. Additional information is available on: www.dynastyfdn.com.

The Madariaga European Foundation was created in 1998, in memory of College of Europe founder Salvador de Madariaga (1886-1978). The Madariaga European Foundation develops a variety of projects on European issues such as European citizenship, education and good governance, all in partnership with other foundations, governments and academia, as well as with EU institutions. It also provides a platform for dialogue and reflection, bringing together civil society with public and private decision-makers. Additional information is available on: www.madariaga.coleurop.be

The Eurasia Foundation was launched in 1992 with a major grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development. With continuing support from USAID and a growing number of other donors in Europe and Russia, the Eurasia Foundation, which is privately managed, has made nearly 7,400 grants totaling over $150 million in the twelve countries of the former Soviet Union. Since 1993 the Eurasia Foundation has awarded more than $70 million to support local initiatives in Russian civil society, small and medium enterprise development, education, and public administration and policy. For more information, please visit: www.eurasia.org, www.eurasia-rfe.org and www.eurasia.msk.ru.