The Fourth Joint seminar of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation and of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) was held in Brussels on 28 June 2011.
Dr. Evgheni Velikhov, Secretary of the Civic Chamber, Mr. Staffan Nilsson, EESC President, Ambassador Vladimir Chizhov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the European Union, Mr. Kunt Fleckenstein, Co-chairman of the EU – Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, as well as the European Commission senior officials, notable Russia and EU political scientists, representatives of a number of NGOs addressed the seminar.
Participants discussed the full range of Russia-EU relations, the negotiation process on the New Russia-EU basic agreement and ways to enhance civil society involvement in the implementation of the future document. Civic Chamber and EESC representatives voiced their support for the Partnership for Modernisation. Adoption of a visa-free regime was named among key priorities of the Partnership.
Taking into account preparations for the UN Conference on sustainable development («Rio+20»), participants of the seminar analyzed in detail Russian and EU approaches to achieving of sustainable development goals and discussed issues of civil society participation in Russia – EU dialogue on this matter.
The event demonstrated dynamic character of interaction of Russia – EU civil society institutes and proved that year by year this cooperation is getting stronger and wider.
