U.S. President Barack Obama Attends Civil Society Summit in Moscow
Russia
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
On July 6 – 7, Eurasia Foundation, New Eurasia Foundation and the Center for Strategic and International Studies hosted a Civil Society Summit in Moscow to coincide with the presidential meetings between President Dmitry Medvedev and President Barack Obama.
President Obama attended the closing session and told participants that ordinary citizens are the key to lasting change. “For history teaches us that real progress -- whether it's economic or social or political -- doesn't come from the top-down, it typically comes from the bottom-up. It comes from people, it comes from the grassroots -- it comes from you. The best ideas and solutions come from ordinary citizens who become involved in their communities and in their countries. And by mobilizing and organizing and changing people's hearts and minds, you then change the political landscape.”
Mr. Obama addressed more than 100 representatives from non-governmental organizations, media outlets and academic institutions throughout the U.S. and Russia who took part in the two-day summit. The summit provided a crucial forum for open dialogue and shared problem solving between the two countries. An overall aim of the conference was to move Russian-American collaboration beyond traditional models of foreign assistance toward more equitable engagement in tackling problems that have real meaning in the lives of ordinary citizens in both countries.
“Now is the time for U.S. and Russian organizations to address common challenges while enhancing the environment for broader engagement between our governments and citizens. The recommendations and work plans developed from this meeting will help U.S. and Russian civil society actors solve real, shared problems and will make cooperation more sustainable,” said Eurasia Foundation President, Horton Beebe-Center.
While in Moscow, President Obama also gave the commencement speech at a Eurasia Foundation grantee, the New Economic School (NES). President Obama called NES “a school founded with Western support that is now distinctly Russian; a place of learning and inquiry where the test of an idea is not whether it is Russian or American or European, but whether it works.”
President Obama at the Civil Society Summit with Eurasia Foundation Trustee Esther Dyson and New Eurasia Foundation President Andrei Kortunov to his right.
On July 6 – 7, Eurasia Foundation, New Eurasia Foundation and the Center for Strategic and International Studies hosted a Civil Society Summit in Moscow to coincide with the presidential meetings between President Dmitry Medvedev and President Barack Obama. 
