They discussed preparations for the ninth St Petersburg Forum to be held in Germany next summer. It is expected to focus on Russian-German cooperation during the global economic crisis.
"Our civil societies should take an active part in elaborating constrictive initiatives and proposals that would help preserve the dynamics of our bilateral relations in the new economic reality," Mr Zubkov noted. He said that to achieve this, "it is necessary to use in full the forum's potential as a unique discussion venue for unfolding an open, totally restriction-free exchange of opinion on the whole range of issues that concern Russian and German societies.
In this context, Mr Zubkov and Mr Maizere discussed ways of streamlining the forum's structure and composition. Mr Zubkov said it would be useful to involve representatives of Russian regions and German lands in the forum's work in this context.
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The St Petersburg Dialogue Forum was established in 2001 at the initiative of the then President Vladimir Putin and the then Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. As an open discussion venue, it is facilitating mutual understanding between Russian and German civil societies.
The main task of the forum is to promote mutual understanding between Russia and Germany, help them develop bilateral cooperation in all spheres of public life, overcome prejudice in mutual perception, and, thus, provide additional incentives for bilateral contacts.
The forum is an open venue for discussing topical public issues, as well as questions of bilateral relations. Integration of institutions taking part in bilateral dialogue, as well as NGOs into the forum is consolidating the existing mechanisms of cooperation. The forum convenes open plenary sessions and closed working groups.
It meets once a year, alternatively in Germany and Russia, under the auspices of the Russian President and Federal Сhancellor, and is attended by prominent figures from different spheres of public life and representatives of the two countries' young elites.
Additional meetings are held in between annual conferences for narrow discussions of specific issues.
The forum is run by the Russian and German coordinating committees, which are responsible for its planning, preparation of subjects for discussion, and convocation. The committees are in charge of the forum's funding. They hold joint sessions in Russia and Germany in turn.
The forum's German Coordinating Committee is now chaired by Lothar de Maizere (the last Prime Minister of the former German Democratic Republic). Boris Gryzlov was the first chairman of the forum's Russian Coordinating Committee. Later on, he was succeeded by Mikhail Gorbachev. First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov was elected to this position last March.