Dear WRF Supporters,
I took over the Chairmanship of the WRF back in January 2014 and what a fascinating six years it has been! Having seen UK Russia relations at the coal face has been an amazing experience and as we move into 2020 our ties are firmer than first meets the eye – from trade and culture to education and people to people links our bilateral relations enjoy a strong foundation.
Whilst the negatives of our bilateral official ties are well known, the WRF has always championed the positive and people ties that bind our two great nations – even when unfashionable to do so! We are well aware of the issues standing in the way of the resumption of normal ties but we believe that we have more in common than divides us!
In the past six years, the Westminster Russia Forum has outgrown its original remit to now include hundreds of supporters and members, has held a large number of events, established for the first time a multilateral forum for promoting equitable ties and forged many international and national partnerships. It has not always been easy but nothing worth doing is so.
So as we move firmly into 2020 we can be assured that we have done all we can to date to promote ties between our peoples, business and culture. We have achieved much but 2020 is the year that we earmarked for a ramping up of activities including:
- Have setup a Moscow office
- Expanded our national and international team
- Running some 15 events in London, Cardiff and Moscow
- Supporting and working in association with our sister organisations in Germany, UK, Moscow, Denmark and elsewhere!
- Engage Russia! A campaign to promote positive business and cultural ties
- Launching a Moscow multilateral relations forum as well as running our 4th annual conference in London
We look forward to working with you, meeting you at our upcoming and supported events and continuing our work together.
With the best regards of the WRF Board,
Nicholas Cobb – Chair, WRF
