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The Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association has the honour to present its report on the visit of the Bureau of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly held in Moscow, Russia November 1-2, 2011. Since this was a special visit of the Bureau, most deliberations were held in camera; as such, the Association is unable to include certain details that would normally be included in a report. Canada was represented by the Assembly’s former Vice President, Senator Jane Cordy and the Treasurer of the Assembly, Senator Pierre Claude Nolin. The Assembly’s most senior officers concluded a two-day visit to Moscow which President Dr. Karl A. Lamers (Germany) described as “a profoundly important milestone in enhancing parliamentary dialogue with Russia”. The delegation, led by President Lamers, included four of the Assembly’s five Vice-Presidents, the Treasurer, the Secretary General, four former Vice-Presidents, and two former Presidents. Dr Lamers noted that a visit to Moscow by such a senior group had not taken place since 1989. Dr Lamers said, “The visit by Assembly leaders 22 years ago paved the way for the systematic relationship between the Assembly and the Russian parliament which then developed. Over the years since then, Russian parliamentarians have participated in almost all Assembly Sessions, and in a wide array of other activities, including twice-yearly meetings of the Assembly’s NATO-Russia Parliamentary Committee. Russia has also hosted Assembly seminars and visits by all the Assembly’s Committees.” “Unfortunately, the last Assembly visit to Russia took place in 2006. I am delighted that visits by Assembly Committees will resume in 2012 after Russia’s ‘election season’. We will also work with our Russian colleagues to explore how we might together enhance our dialogue.” The consistent theme of the visit was that NATO and Russia should explore and pursue their many common strategic interests by cooperating to the maximum extent possible. At the same, there should be frank dialogue in areas where there is disagreement. Areas for cooperation that received particular emphasis were Afghanistan, dealing with international terrorism, countering the drugs trade, counter-piracy, coping with man-made and natural disasters, and airspace cooperation. Areas of disagreement which featured in discussions were the Russian presence in Georgia, the modalities of missile defences, lack of progress in reaching an agreement on conventional forces in Europe, and NATO’s operations concerning Libya. Discussions of these types of issue frequently reveal perhaps the most intractable problem still bedevilling such dialogue; the persistence of Cold War stereotypes and suspicions. “I hope that greater contacts and parliamentary dialogue will help us to move ahead with cooperation and narrow our differences. With this visit, we have shown our determination to achieve that.” The visit by Assembly leaders took place on 1 and 2 November. Meetings on the first day of the visit were organized by the Russian Federal Assembly and included meetings with Speaker of the Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko; Deputy Foreign Minister, Alexander Grouschko; Deputy Minister of Defence, Anatoly Antonov, and Assistant Head of the Security Council, Evgeniy Lukyanov. On the second day of the visit the delegation met independent policy specialists, journalists, members of the diplomatic community, and opposition representatives. They also visited the NATO Information Office (NIO) by Robert Pszczel, Director of the NOI, and Colonel Mariusz Grzybowski, Deputy Head of the NATO Military Liaison Mission in Moscow. In addition to the two Canadian parliamentarians, the Participants in the visit to Moscow were: President Dr. Karl A. Lamers (Germany); Vice-Presidents Petras Austrevicius (Lithuania), Jadwiga Zakrzewska (Poland), Júlio Miranda Calha (Portugal) ,and Hugh Bayley (United Kingdom); Secretary General David Hobbs (United Kingdom); former Vice Presidents Assen Agov (Bulgaria) Jean-Michel Boucheron (France) and Sven Mikser (Estonia); and Former Presidents Loïc Bouvard (France) and José Lello (Portugal) The Russian Federation is an Associate Member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Its ten-member delegation is led by Duma Deputy Speaker Mrs Lubov Sliska and Federation Council Member Viktor Ozerov. The delegation participates in Assembly Sessions, the NATO-Russia Parliamentary Committee, and many other Assembly activities throughout the year. Respectfully submitted,
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