Русский | DECR Communication Service| June 8, 2011
English translation by Nina Tkachuk Dimas

Sino-Russian consultations on exchanges and cooperation in the sphere of religion took place in Moscow

On June 8, 2011 the first consultation of the Russian-Chinese group for contacts and cooperation in the religious sphere was held in the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations

In November 2009, a delegation from the Council for Cooperation with Religious Associations under the President of the Russian Federation, with the participation of representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, visited China at the invitation of the State Administration of Religious Affairs of the People's Republic. Talks were held on Russian-Chinese cooperation in the religious sphere, in accordance with the action plan approved by the two heads of state to implement the provisions of the Treaty of Good-neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China for 2009-2012.

This Plan, adopted by the President of the Russian Federation, D.A. Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao, provides, in one of its points, for dialogue and cooperation between the major religions of Russia and China to establish contacts between the Council for Cooperation with Religious Associations under the Russian President and the State Administration of Religious Affairs of the People's Republic, and the Interreligious Council of Russia and China Association for Cultural and Religious Affairs.

At the close of the 2009 visit, two Memoranda were signed between the Council for Cooperation with Religious Associations under the President of the Russian Federation and the PRC State Administration for Religious Affairs. One document addresses general issues of Russian-Chinese contacts and cooperation in the religious sphere. The other specifies the education governing the education of Chinese students at the Orthodox theological schools of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Based on the Memorandum of Understanding between the Council for Cooperation with Religious Associations under the President of the Russian Federation and the PRC State Administration for Religious Affairs on the development of Sino-Russian contacts and cooperation in the sphere of religion, a Russian-Chinese group of contacts and cooperation in the religious sphere was established. The Russian side's participants were approved at a meeting of the Council for Cooperation with Religious Associations under the President of the Russian Federation on August 3, 2010.

A member of the Board, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokalamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate, who led the consultation with the Russian side, was appointed head of the Russian part of the working group. Members of the Russian part of the working group attending the bilateral meeting: S.A. Melnikov, Executive Secretary of the Council for Cooperation with Religious Associations under the Russian President, the referent of the Russian President for Domestic Policy; Council member Vladimir Egorov, Head of the UNESCO Chair of the Russian Academy of State Service under the Russian President; Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations; V.P. Nazarenko, deputy head of foreign policy of the Russian Federation President; Rushan-Hazrat Abbyasov, deputy chairman of the Russian Mufti Council; Gelong Sanger Lama, representative of Russia's Buddhist Traditional Sangha; D. Petrovsky of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations. The meeting was attended by Mikhail V. Baranov, deputy director of the First Asian Department of Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs; S. Kovalev, the Department's second secretary.

The Chinese delegation which arrived to participate in the consultations, was headed by Zhang Lebin, deputy chief of China's State Administration for Religious Affairs, who heads the Chinese part of Sino-Russian group for contacts and cooperation in the religious sphere. The delegation also included staff from the PRC State Administration for Religious Affairs Director, Fourth Department, Liu Jinguang; Deputy Director of the Department of International Affairs, Xiao Hong; Fourth Department Inspector Wang Yanming, Deputy Head of the Department of Foreign Affairs Xue Chunmei and member of the Secretariat office Xu Siyuan.

During the consultations a wide range of issues of cooperation between Russia and China in the religious sphere were considered. In particular, there was discussion of various aspects of cooperation between the Orthodox believers of the two countries and the current activities of the Autonomous Chinese Orthodox Church.