Members of the Russian-American group, created in the summer of last year at the suggestion of the Russian and U.S Presidents, Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama have agreed on the need for a joint fight against corruption and stereotypes. They held their first joint meeting in Washington on Wednesday.
Among the highlights of the meeting was the signing of an agreement on the joint monitoring of corruption in both countries, as well as the coordinating of the criteria for evaluating the phenomenon, taking into consideration both nations' experiences. Significantly, non-Governmental Organizations are to be asked to join the efforts and in the future members of the business community will also be invited to contribute to the brainstorming. It is vital to know the level of corruption in both countries and how the society views the problem, said Victor Supian, deputy Director of the institute for American and Canadian studies.
There are a number of issues that can be examined under the Russian-American group, in part, the acute problem of immigration, since illegal migrants create a myriad of problems for both countries' law enforcement agencies, and to large extent, the problems are identical. It may be advisable that both countries should put in place a common method of dealing with the problem, said Suprian. There are also problems relating to illegal drugs trade, as well as child abuse, among others. Joint discussion of all these issues seems to me a clear indication of the level of cooperation between Russia and America, said Suprian.
Russia and the US cannot at the moment boast of having the accepted standard of protecting the rights of children, but both nations are working on the issue and hence Russia wants to take a closer look at how the U.S is controlling the behaviour of people who have served terms in prison for offences against children. In turn, Moscow has a thing or two to teach Washington about adoption for the U.S Congress continues to debate the effectiveness of the internationally recommended method of adoption and the subsequent control over the welfare of the adopted child.
Another problem which should be looked into by the Russian-American commission is that of stereotypes, dating back to the Cold War period . Sociologists say that on the whole. Russia has a warm heart for ordinary Americans but frowns at the action of the administrations. The same is true of the U.S. Hence as both are now strategic partners, their leaders want to influence the mood in their societies, which is still characterized by Cold War sentiments. Perhaps, the deepening of both economic and humanitarian contacts between the two countries will help to destroy the existing unhelpful myths.
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