On June 19, 2012, the Russian Council on Foreign Relations jointly with the Gorchakov Foundation for Public Diplomacy held a round table on the topic Public Diplomacy as a Tool of Russian Foreign Policy: Opportunities, Problems and Prospects. The event was attended by members of the Russian Council on Foreign Relations and the Gorchakov Foundation, representatives of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, the Public Chamber of Russian Federation, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.
On June 19, 2012, the Russian Council on Foreign Relations jointly with the Gorchakov Foundation for Public Diplomacy held a round table on the topic Public Diplomacy as a Tool of Russian Foreign Policy: Opportunities, Problems and Prospects. The event was attended by members of the Russian Council on Foreign Relations and the Gorchakov Foundation, representatives of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, the Public Chamber of Russian Federation, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.
Igor Ivanov, President of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) opened the meeting. He noted that without the active participation of the society and public organizations in international relations, it is impossible to give a new and higher quality to bilateral relations. Under this parameter, Russia is seriously lagging behind other countries and, consequently, it is at a disadvantage in the formation of public opinion abroad.
“We are again very late in the creation of an environment conducive for the emergence of non-governmental organizations that have an interest in public diplomacy. There is a habit and fully formed stereotypes in places where they were created in proper time (mostly by the state), which do not always correspond to current realities,” - the executive director of the Gorchakov Foundation, L. Drachevsky, agreed.
Turning the floor over to the participants of the round table, the Director General of RIAC, Andrey Kortunov, raised some problematic questions before the audience – How can the activities of nongovernmental organizations be transformed so that public diplomacy becomes an active instrument of Russian foreign policy?; What are possible ways to increase the effectiveness of information exchange in the areas dealt with by the organization of public diplomacy in Russia?; What coordination mechanisms could be useful? How could partnerships be built in this area?
The Deputy Chairman of the Russian Commission on UNESCO Affairs, Alexander Dzasokhov, the Chairman of the Presidium of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, Sergey Karaganov, the Chairman of the Russian Public Council for International Cooperation and Public Diplomacy under the Public Chamber of Russia, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Chairman of the Society of Russian-China Friendship Association and Director of the Far East Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician Mikhail Titarenko, the Deputy Head of Rossotrudnichestvo, Georgy Muradov, the Editor-in-chief of the Russia in Global Affairs journal, Fyodor Lukyanov, a member of the Inter-commission working group on international cooperation and public diplomacy of the Public Chamber of Russia, Alexey Grishin, the Coordinating Director of AEAC, Evgeny Silin, the President of the Eurasia Heritage, Elena Yatsenko, the Head of the Department of World Political Processes, MGIMO University, Russian Foreign Ministry, Mikhail Lebedev, Professor at the Department of Diplomacy, MGIMO University, Russian Foreign Ministry, T. Zonova, the Head of international projects of the Summa Group, A. Dolinsky, the Head of the Sector for Political Problems of European Integration, Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences, S. Utkin, and President of the Foundation for Public Diplomacy, I. Shershnev – all gave their answers to these questions.
Summing up the meeting, Igor Ivanov expressed his support for such a format of exchange of views between the parties involved in public diplomacy, and urged the participants to an open dialogue and partnership.
Roundtable on Public Diplomacy, June 19, 2012
