The Forum’s mission is to promote the exchange of views and ideas between citizens and prominent figures in various spheres of public life: culture, education, economy, science, sports and many others, as well as to implement the most popular projects that offer solutions to problems of concern to society. The creation of a new dialogue platform meets the interests and requests of the citizens of the two countries for closer open communication and expansion of interaction on a wide range of issues.

On February 28, 2018, in Moscow, within the framework of the meeting of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin with the Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria Sebastian Kurz, the initiative to form the Russian-Austrian civil society forum “Sochi Dialogue” was approved in principle.

On June 5, 2018, during the talks between the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the Federal President of the Republic of Austria Alexander van der Bellen, an agreement was reached in Vienna to start work on the creation of the Russian-Austrian public forum “Sochi Dialogue”.

The co-chair of the Sochi Dialogue from the Austrian side is Christoph Leitl, President of the European Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry “Eurochambres”, President of the Austrian Chamber of Economics from 2000 to 2018.

On the Russian side, the Sochi Dialogue is headed by Andrey Fursenko, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation, Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation from 2004 to 2012.

Russia