A.I. Vakhmistrov, Vice-Governor of St.Petersburg, Head of St.Petersburg Governor’s Administration, the leaders of the Committee for External Relations of St.Petersburg, and the representatives of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Russian Federation met in Smolny with the members of World Coordinating Council of the Russian compatriots living abroad, at 10:00 on April 1, 2009.
A.I. Vakhmistrov, Vice-Governor of St.Petersburg, Head of St.Petersburg Governor’s Administration, the leaders of the Committee for External Relations of St.Petersburg, and the representatives of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Russian Federation met in Smolny with the members of World Coordinating Council of the Russian compatriots living abroad, at 10:00 on April 1, 2009.
The Coordinating Council regulates the activity of national and international associations of compatriots, and provides the representation of compatriots in the governmental bodies of Russian Federation between the world congresses and conferences. The Coordinating Council structure consists of representatives of the largest diasporas of Russian compatriots elected at national and regional conferences. Along with them, the Coordinating Council comprises the heads of major international organizations and associations of Russian compatriots, as well as the representatives of traditional confessions of peoples of Russia.
A.I. Vakhmistrov informed about the progress of the Program of St.Petersburg Government on implementation of Russian Federation state policy concerning the compatriots abroad for 2008-2010.
The basic themes of the meeting were: cooperation in the area of education; Russian language and culture support; work with the young people; support of veterans of the Great Patriotic War and residents of Sieged Leningrad; cultural cooperation; cooperation within the limits of agreements with the partner cities.
The major directions for further work are defined: support, propagation, and promotion of Russian language, that is, opening the methodological offices at the Russian Centers for Science and Culture and Business Information Centers of St.Petersburg abroad; informing the interested individuals and organizations of compatriots on forthcoming bestowal of the medal «In Honour of the 65th Anniversary of Complete Leningrad Liberation from Fascist Blockade» on the then-residents of Hero City of Leningrad using the resources of official website of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Russia, magazines, and Internet portals for Russian compatriots abroad; working in accordance with the action plan of of St.Petersburg Government to implement the Program for 2009 which is to widen the geographical scope of the events participants; preparing for the third World congress of the compatriots living abroad; widening the cooperation of St.Petersburg Administration with Coordination Councils of Russian compatriots abroad.
Source: Committee for External Relations of St.Petersburg