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Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, dear colleagues.

The Minister and I have just recalled that such meeting was last held here, in this hall two years ago. Since then, major changes have taken place in this country and in the world, which only stresses the need for a regular exchange of opinions. In modern conditions the line between the domestic and foreign policy is becoming thinner . The strengthening of Russian statehood and economic growth have had a positive effect on the international standing of the country as well. Russia is now viewed as a serious partner in solving major international problems. At the same time, the increased foreign policy resource has played a vital part in the revival of the country as a whole.

Now before I move on to the main part of my address, I would like to thank for these achievements all those present in this hall and all your colleagues for this fruitful work in the solution of problems that faced the country in the past few years.

Russian diplomacy should help tackle national tasks more energetically than ever before. These tasks include raising economic competitiveness, a radical increase of GDP, and the integration of Russia in the world economy. Hence the exceptional significance of the economic aspects of the work of Russia’s organisations abroad. The priority tasks are to protect national economic interests, raise the investment attractiveness of Russia, and resist discrimination on foreign markets. It is obvious that possible WTO accession will also call for changing the attitudes of our missions abroad to the development of foreign economic ties and priorities.

I want to stress that the integration of Russia in the world economy should not be limited to becoming a member of as many international structures as possible. We must above all learn to concentrate the financial, organisational and human resources in the areas where Russia can get revenues. On the whole, our foreign policy activities must serve the cause of overall development and modernisation of the country; diplomacy must be brought closer to the everyday requirements and interests of Russian citizens.

Effective international cooperation can and should facilitate the science-and-technology-, educational- and cultural policy; it must promote humanitarian contacts and help to simplify mutual travel.

I am convinced that initiative and independent work of the embassies is vital in this respect. It happens sometimes that problems, which look as purely technical, persist for years in relations with certain countries. Who else but you can do this job? Who else can promptly make suggestions and search for mutually acceptable alternatives? The transformation of political contacts into effective cooperation mechanisms largely depends on your work.

In this context, I would like to speak today about the information you provide. We have spoken more than once that we need more businesslike and practical reporting. However, we still frequently receive telegrams raising questions that could have been dealt with at the posts themselves. Many problems can be solved at the site.

Your information and analytical efforts should not lag behind the call of the times in terms of speed and quality. To do this, you should combine the classical instruments of collecting and processing information with a smart application of modern technologies. The heads of embassies and permanent missions should not merely act as mailmen, transferring the requests of partners to the centre. Any information you acquire should be looked upon from the viewpoint of Russian interests and be accompanied with an analysis and suggestions. The apparently absurd or provocative information should be dropped on the spot without clogging the mail.

Dear colleagues.

We have entered a complicated stage of creating a new system of international relations. It will most probably be a long and complicated process, as it includes a strong element of uncertainty and, regrettably, unpredictability. However, I would like to say that there are both bad and good things in this situation. We are facing serious challenges, as they say now. On the other hand, this dynamic situation gives us room for manoeuvre and creates favourable conditions for creative, innovative work. It allows us not just to drift with the current or catch a departing train; it allows us to actively influence the creation of a new, democratic world order. The future architecture of international relations will depend, to a high degree, on you, on the stand of Russia.

We have scored certain results also in the creation of fundamentally new mechanisms of positive influence on the evolution of the system of international relations. It is a system of new organisations, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the nascent Common Economic Space.

At the same time, our goal is not – should not be – to join as many organisations as possible. The main thing is to score results. Our energetic operation in the Collective Security Treaty Organisation and in G8 and contacts with the Organisation of the Islamic Conference are reinforcing our contribution to global and regional processes.

The system of international relations has become more flexible and relations between states, more democratic. The harsh “bloc” discipline is disappearing from the international practice, and individual attempts to keep it up are undoubtedly doomed to failure.

I repeat, in this situation we must use every opportunity to ensure Russia’s participation in the creation of a fair world order that would meet the interests of security and socio-economic development of Russia. We have many supporters in these processes. You know that the overwhelming majority of states share our attitudes to the solution of international problems on the basis of multilateral cooperation under the auspices of the United Nations Organisation and under the rule of international law.

Our partners understand and respect our efforts to uphold the interests of Russia through cooperation and search for compromises, rather than through confrontation. They support our policy in the struggle against the threats of international terrorism, WMD proliferation and regional conflicts. Russia is directly contributing to the search for ways to settle the situations in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East and the Korean Peninsula. Our posts abroad must see their tasks not only in the context of their work with each individual country or organisation, but also in the broad international perspective.

Now a few words about our priorities. The main priority remains the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). In the past few years, we have managed to orient the policy in this area towards the real interests of the country and the people. But we should yet formulate a comprehensive long-term strategy in this sector, which is, in itself, a highly complicated conceptual job. And yet we are not using sufficiently well the historical credit of trust and friendship, the close ties that link the peoples of our countries. Meanwhile, there cannot be a vacuum in international relations. The absence of an effective Russian policy in the CIS or even an unsubstantiated pause in the pursuit of such a policy will inevitably result in a situation where other, more energetic states will fill this vacuum.

What is to be done in this situation? First, every support should be given to the integration processes going on in inter-regional associations. It concerns above all such structures as The Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) and the Common Economic Space already mentioned here. Second, relations between CIS states and Russia should be made as attractive as possible not only for us, but also for them. My conviction is that persistent efforts in this direction will guarantee growing competitiveness of our foreign policy in general. But we should not be hypnotized by declarations that nobody but Russia has the right to leadership over the CIS expanses. If we have recognized certain realities, these realities should be reckoned with and we should consider them while lining up our foreign policy. This approach, as I mentioned above, that no one except us has the right to work there is fundamentally wrong, lulling and disorienting. Leadership should always be backed with effective action and effective policy. The prime task still remains to protect the rights and interests of our co-citizens and our fellow-countrymen in CIS and the Baltic countries. It is also time to start establishing in Commonwealth countries large information and cultural centres for work with expatriates.

Our other traditional priority is, of course, Europe … The latest wave of EU and NATO expansion has created a new geopolitical situation on the continent, and the task now is not so much to adapt ourselves to it as, first, to minimize the potential risks and damage to Russia's economic security interests and, second, to find here advantages for ourselves and turn them to good account. Here, too, there is no alternative approach but to build up equal cooperation with the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A key element of such policy is development of ties with countries that show a real interest in closer contacts with Russia.

Relations with the United States likewise call for constant attention. We have objective pre-requisites for a long-term partnership here based on mutual interests, constructive dialogue and predictability. All this is required first of all for jointly countering international terrorism, maintaining strategic stability and exercising arms control. Good trustful contacts at the level of leaders of the two states contribute to close interaction, but this is not enough for a sustained and bona fide strategic partnership. The widest possible sections of American society, including certainly business, should be interested in constructive and good relations with Russia.

Today, the Asia-Pacific region is becoming the most dynamic centre of world economic development and our foreign policy line on deepening relations with APR should be closely tied up with domestic tasks, with the promotion of potential Russian interests towards using these ties to further develop the economy of Siberia and the Far East. Big opportunities also exist, of course, in relations with India and China.

On the whole, it is necessary to broaden further the horizons of Russian foreign policy, to seek new opportunities for cooperation, never forgetting preservation and development of positions where in the past we have invested considerable resources, for example, in Central and Eastern Europe, in the Middle East, on the African continent, and in Latin America. They remember and know us. The atmosphere for developing relations with these countries and regions is very favourable now. And here also a lot depends on posts initiatives.

Now I will dwell on one problem, which is of fundamental importance for us. Perceptions of Russia, existing in countries of your stay, are often far from the reality. There are also frequent planned campaigns to discredit this country apparently damaging both the state and for the national business. We need your recommendations to streamline targeted objective information about Russia, taking into account the specifics of public opinion in every country. Embassies and other overseas representative offices should take an active part in shaping an unbiased and commendable concept of Russia's domestic and foreign policy, its history, its culture, and current developments. Those are also the positions from which we should plan measures to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War.

Dear colleagues, a few words about the organizational and financial aspects of the diplomatic service. I would like to tell you that I have signed decrees determining a new structure for the Ministry and financial provisions for its personnel. As a result, the individual responsibility of each civil servant is to grow appreciably, and so is the monetary evaluation of their contribution. By making these changes, we tried to take the specifics of the Foreign Ministry into account as fully as possible. But for all the special nature of your work, the diplomatic service should not stand apart from the administrative reform. The task of making its machinery more compact-sized and efficient fully applies to your organization as well. Successful accomplishment of the tasks facing Russian diplomacy is impossible without an adequate human resource. The heavy drain of staff from the foreign ministry in the early 90s had a painful effect on a generational gap and, although today the drop out from the Ministry is not so massive, this is no occasion for self-complacency. There are still plenty of problems, and more often than not the ones leaving are very good professionals who think they cannot realize their potential at the state diplomatic service.

The growing popularity of a diplomatic career among young people and college graduates is a good sign, but one should not forget that the main criteria are the quality of new personnel, their readiness to serve the state long and well, and so the Ministry should explore more actively every avenue to attract and keep the best qualified specialists. Among such possibilities is decent pay for work: I will repeat certain measures are being undertaken here, and we will continue to improve this work offering social guarantees, career growth, and other incentives. Moreover, the approach here should be differentiated, rather than egalitarian, depending on the results and quality of work, and initiative shown by individuals concerned.

I would like to conclude by emphasizing that we will support the Foreign Ministry of Russian Federation in all possible ways, but we also expect a lot from you all. Above all, active self-sustained efforts to ensure Russian interests in this exceptionally responsible period of our history.

I wish you every success and thank you for your attention.