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MEDIA NOTE

The new co-chairs of the Civil Society Working Group of the U.S. – Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights & Labor Thomas O. Melia and his Russian counterpart, Commissioner for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law Ambassador Konstantin Dolgov, met in Washington on February 10.  The co-chairs reviewed the existing bilateral engagement and discussed new approaches and topics regarding the role of civil society groups.

In keeping with the mandate established by Presidents Obama and Medvedev, the Civil Society Working Group is intended to strengthen the peer-to-peer ties between civic groups in the United States and the Russian Federation and to facilitate a dialogue on civil society development.