The number of nongovernment organizations [NGOs] in the world is "increasing rapidly and has grown 40 times over in the past 10 years", Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said today in a speech to a conference in Petrozavodsk on border trade in northwestern Russia.
This could mark the beginning of "the era of the NGOs", he said. "About two million people in Russia are involved in these organizations and their activities affect some 20 million or one in seven in our country," he continued.
"The state clearly feels the need for a more effective partnership with public organizations in foreign policy activities," Lavrov told the conference. "The foreign ministry is in regular contact with NGOs and we have improved the quality of such contact so that we can impart a systemic quality to our joint work." [Passage omitted]
"It is in our interests that NGOs be dependable and effective partners in the pursuit of our country's foreign-policy objectives," Lavrov stressed. [Passage omitted]
["Promoting Russia's language and culture abroad and educational and humanitarian projects" are key areas for the ministry's joint work with NGOs, Lavrov was quoted as saying in an ITAR-TASS report at 0824 gmt. "We aren't making full use of this resource even in an area of vital interest, the CIS," he said, noting that public and commercial organizations could do more to help the more than 25 million Russians living in CIS countries. On the broader global stage, "the Foreign Ministry plans to help Russian NGOs become more involved in international affairs and acquire an international dimension", Lavrov added. "That means, in particular, being recognized and accredited by international organizations, above all the UN, UNESCO and the EU," he said, adding that "with the ministry's strong backing over 50 Russian NGOs have achieved consultant status with the UN's Economic and Social Council and been accredited by the UN Secretariat Department of Public Information". It is time for Russian NGOs to play "an active part in the EU's pan-European events and projects", Lavrov concluded.]
[Lavrov and his ministry "want to see greater dialogue with public organizations in the CIS", he was quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS in a further report at 0820 gmt. "Russian civic structures could play a variety of roles in the CIS, such as observing elections, using people's diplomacy in conflict resolution, defending our compatriots' rights and helping migrants from the CIS to settle in Russia."]

Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow
BBC Monitoring