Joint statement by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on the Russian-German Year of Regional and Municipal Partnerships in 2017-18

Following the successful Year of Russian-German Youth Exchanges in 2016-17, we plan to deepen our contacts, mutual understanding and trust in Russian-German relations by further expanding cooperation at the municipal and regional level. A special role here is played by extensive partnership ties between federal lands, regions, districts, cities and municipalities, as well as between public associations, universities and schools. Such ties form the foundation of active Russian-German relations. Many of these partnerships will be marking their 25^th anniversary in 2017 and 2018. We intend to draw public attention to these partnerships and use the momentum they generate to expand partnership ties between Germans and Russians, thereby strengthening mutual trust. We are confident that municipal and regional partnerships are a pivotal element of Russian-German cooperation.

The German foreign minister will take under his patronage the initiative of holding the Russian-German Year of Regional and Municipal Partnerships in 2017-18, which continues the tradition of successful bilateral years in our two countries.

The Year of Regional and Municipal Partnerships will open at the Conference of Partner Cities that will take place in Krasnodar on June 28-30, 2017. The Year is intended to provide a new impetus to cooperation and contacts between civil societies in Russia and Germany. Our shared wish is to ensure that wide-ranging intermunicipal and interregional partnerships increase the number and intensity of direct contacts between Russians and Germans and thereby consolidate dialogue and mutual understanding between our societies. Tangible signals of cooperation are especially important during politically difficult periods.

This is why we are pinning high hopes on the Russian-German Year of Regional and Municipal Partnerships in 2017-18. Contacts and ties between people from various fields of civic activity that are established in the course of municipal and regional partnerships lay the invaluable groundwork for future neighbourly relations between the Russians and Germans.