The meeting was also attended by the representatives of St.Petersburg regional branch of All-Russia public organization "Russian Red Cross" and the Office of Federal Migration Service over St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region.
V.V.Tikhonov, Vice-Governor of St.Petersburg, met in Smolny with Gesche Karrenbrock, the representative of the Office of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Russian Federation, on February 10, 2009.
The meeting was also attended by the representatives of St.Petersburg regional branch of All-Russia public organization "Russian Red Cross" and the Office of Federal Migration Service over St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region.
During the meeting, the parties exchanged their opinions on cooperation between St.Petersburg and the UNHCR. G.Karrenbrock esteemed positively the work done in St.Petersburg with regards to the current situation of migration processes, such as providing social assistance to stateless persons, displaced persons, and refugees, which includes opening the Center for Refugees, as well as the steps taken by the St.Petersburg Government to improve the legislative framework and the practice in the area of ensuring the refugee rights.
The representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees proposed to convey to the headquarters of the UNHCR in Geneva the information about the positive experience of St.Petersburg in developing the mechanisms for social and economic assistance and implementing programs of social adaptation for refugees and displaced persons.
Source: Committee for External Relations of St.Petersburg