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Yeltsin Democracy Fellowship Program University of Saskatchewan, Canada
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Russian-Canadian Club of Presidents Fellows Russia
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Summary of the Final YDFP Conference
The Final YDFP Conference was held in Moscow on 6-8 December, 2002 in Moscow under the aegis of the Russian-Canadian Club of Presidents Fellows and with the participation of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation, the Canadian Embassy and the University of Saskatchewan (Canada).
Conference participants and speakers included: the Canadian Ambassador to the Russian Federation Mr. Rodney Irwin, representatives of Canadian diplomatic and business communities, the Presidents Administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation, the Institute of the USA and Canada (Russian Academy of Science) and more than 70 YDFP fellows from 20 regions of the Russian Federation (70% from the business sector, 15% from public sector, 15% from non-government sector). The total number of participants amounted to 120 people. Journalists from Izvestia, Interfax, Diplomat and Russian Focus magazines, and the radio-station Moscow World Service covered the conference.
Greetings from the fathers of YDFP - the first Russian President Boris Yeltsin and the former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney as well as a written statement from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Igor Ivanov were warmly received at the opening reception.
During the conference more than 20 reports were received. The main focus of the Conference was an assessment of the YDFPs significance and its impact on economic development of the Russian Federation. In the reports of the Russian and Canadian participants, the results of training were demonstrated at the organizational and individual levels and the proposals for deepening Russian-Canadian co-operation were presented. Finally, considerable attention was given to the Russian-Canadian Club of Presidents Fellows activities in the context of developing Russian-Canadian business co-operation.
