Following an invitation by our excellent European Rep, Mirjam Zwingli, I was delighted to accept an invitation to attend the 25th Annual AGM of the Deutsches Russiches Forum in Berlin last month.
Aside visiting the wonderful city of Berlin for the first time – the trip involved a number of meetings and interviews with leading media and political – trade stakeholders. There is too much to report on in full but in summary the event tied in with our strategy of working with similar organisations across Europe to further dialogue. We will be making announcements in the coming months.
We met a range of German politicians, legal, trade and media representatives and what struck me was the similarity with the UK in the struggle to make the argument for a neutral dialogue on broader bilateral ties. When asked my view on ties between the UK and Russia our new German partners were surprised to hear of the growing trade and cultural ties between Moscow and London – it is the same there in Germany.
In terms of political ties, the situation is similar in Germany and on the continent in that established political parties shy away from overt ties of dialogue with Moscow – despite the number of voices behind the scenes desiring such a dialogue. That too is remarkably similar to the UK, no matter how inconvenient the truth of the matter.
The German media too seems to take a similar line, which is unsurprising but what was noted was the desire for community, inter-faith, cultural and trade ties to continue unabated and to separate political difficulties from the more positive aspects of our links.
The forum itself was well organised with some 500 senior representatives from across the German – Russian business – culture and political communities.
We have further plans to work in close association with our European sister-organisations and as such look forward to welcoming them to the UK very soon – more details to follow!
Nic Cobb – Chair, WRF
