Russian Foreign Minister: NGOs can greatly contribute to the G8 summit agenda

MOSCOW, February 3. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that non-government organizations could greatly contribute to discussions of the agenda of the G8 summit, which is to be held in St. Petersburg this summer.

“The contribution of these organizations can be very valuable. NGOs have the desire and ability to work on the issues that are to be included in the agenda, producing practical results that would be clear to ordinary people,” he told journalists after a meeting with NGO delegates in Moscow Friday.

The minister said that a kind of club of NGOs concerned with international issues would be set up at the ministry.

The meeting was attended by Ella Pamfilova, head of the Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights Council under the President of Russia. She said that it would be very productive for the public and state organizations to enter into dialog in the framework of Russia’s G8 Presidency and preparations for the summit.

“It will be an open, transparent and democratic process. We do not reject anyone, inviting all organizations that have ideas to share,” Pamfilova said.