Eurasia Foundation, New Eurasia Foundation and the Center for Strategic and International Studies are hosting a Civil Society Summit in Moscow on July 6 and 7, 2009, to coincide with presidential meetings there between President Dmitry Medvedev and President Barack Obama. As the governments of Russia and the United States signal interest in improving their bilateral relationship, the civil society conference will deepen and diversify the discourse between citizens of both countries. It aims to address and find solutions to shared problems and to put US-Russian relations on a more solid footing.

More than 75 experts and practitioners from non-governmental organizations, media outlets and academic institutions throughout the U.S. and Russia will take part in the two-day summit. Participants will exchange views and experience with the goal of developing recommendations for future collaboration between the countries in the following lines of work:

• Public Health
• Community Development
• Human Rights and Rule of Law
• Youth and Education
• Press and New Media
• Environment

A separate initiative, the US-Russian Joint Working Group on Investment and Institutional Integrity, organized by the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) and OPORA (Union of Business Associations of Russia), will join the final session of the civil society summit to share its findings on strengthening governance and transparency in Russia.

Senior officials from both governments will receive agendas for collaboration and policy recommendations in all of these fields at the conclusion of the summit in Moscow. The conference is intended as a first step in a series of activities to include the implementation of joint projects, more active engagement between organizations and their respective governments in both countries. A second civil society summit is to take place in the U.S. in 2010.

Eurasia Foundation President Horton Beebe-Center says the summit is timely and important: “Now is the time for U.S. and Russian organizations to address common challenges while enhancing the environment for broader engagement between the governments and citizens of both countries. The recommendations and work plans emerging from this meeting will help Americans and Russians solve real, shared problems and will make cooperation more sustainable.”

Learn more here.