OREANDA-NEWS. October 23, 2009. Mexico City hosted the third regional conference of compatriots living in the Americas. It was attended by representatives of organizations and associations of compatriots from 17 states of the continent and officials from the Russian MFA and the Russian World Foundation.

Participants and guests of the meeting warmly received a message of greetings from Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, who reaffirmed continued support for the Russian compatriots living in the region from the Government Commission for the Affairs of Compatriots Abroad (PKDSR).

In his opening remarks, Russia’s Ambassador to Mexico, V. I. Morozov urged conference participants to hold a keen discussion on the challenges facing the organizations of compatriots and the country coordinating councils and to search jointly for ways to address them.

During the event, delegates took stock of the activity of the compatriots’ organizations in the past year. They gave high marks to the cultural and humanitarian actions of compatriots carried out under PKDSR auspices with the support of Embassies and the offices of Rossotrudnichestvo. Participants noted that in recent years, joint efforts helped to substantially progress the formation of a full-fledged Russian diaspora, and to strengthen compatriots’ links with the historic homeland. Considerable attention was devoted to preparations for the World Congress of Compatriots to be held in Moscow on December 1-2 this year.

Following discussion, a resolution was adopted, reflecting the basic needs of the compatriots of the American region in cultural, educational, social, legal and information fields. In particular, it identified among the priorities of the compatriots’ organizations for the upcoming period: strengthening the positions of the Russian language; intensifying the work on the preparation and conduct of commemorative events for the 65th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, involving young people in the activity of the compatriots’ organizations; and fostering the exchange of information between country structures of compatriots, particularly by creating a regional Internet portal.

S. Palamarchuk (Brazil) was confirmed as the Representative of Latin America in the World Coordination Council of Russian Compatriots.