Your Excellency, Director General of the Technical Secretariat of the OPCW,

Excellences,

Dear guests, friends,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a real pleasure to open the reception dedicated to the Russian Diplomat’s Day. On 10 February Russian diplomats celebrate their professional day – the Diplomats’ Day, which was established by a Presidential Decree in 2002 to commemorate the founding of the Russian Diplomatic Service in 1549.

The date itself is closely related to the history of Russia’s first foreign affairs agency – the Ambassadorial Department. 10 February 1549 is the day when the “Posolsky Prikaz” (Ambassadorial Department) was established by Czar Ivan IV, and it is the first time when it was mentioned in official chronicles.

Since 1549 the diplomatic service received an official status.
The Posolsky Prikaz successfully managed the Russian foreign policy throughout XVI-XVII centuries (with the first permanent Russian diplomatic missions abroad opening in the XVII century). In 1802, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was created by the manifesto of Emperor Alexander I. By 1914 Russia had a wide network of diplomatic and consular representations all over the world. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (and after the Revolution – the Peoples Commissariat for Foreign Affairs) defended state interests at every turning point of Russian and world history.

Today the Russian diplomacy plays a significant role within the UN, G20, various world and regional forums. Its main goal is to promote ties of friendship and cooperation with other states.

For me personally, it was a great pleasure to begin my work in the Netherlands as Ambassador of the Russian Federation. Our countries are united not only by common history and culture, but also by profound ties of friendship. The fact was marked by making 2013 a year of friendship between Russia and the Netherlands, which was unprecedented in the history of our relations. More than 300 political, economic and cultural events were organized in the two countries. They took place at many high-profile venues including the main exhibition site: the Hermitage Amsterdam, which had been opened in 2009.

Together with the Dutch people we celebrated the 200th wedding anniversary of Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna, sister of Alexander I and Nicholas I, and the Dutch Crown Prince of Orange, who became in 1840 the King of the Netherlands.

I would like to emphasize that we have always considered the Netherlands to be one of Russia's key partners. We value what has been done in many practical areas of mutual cooperation - particularly in trade and investments, culture and cultural exchanges. And we are determined to overcome the current difficulties that we have had, to expand the cultural ties and to promote the economic and financial cooperation.

It is well-known that at present the world is not safe. We have to deal with multiple problems and challenges, such as the rise of terrorism, the dangers of climate change and many conflicts all around the globe.

There is an expression: “when diplomats turn silent, cannons begin talking”. It is sadly very true. Unfortunately, lately there have been situations when diplomats were not even granted a chance to begin talking, and brute military force was used immediately.

So it is obvious there is still a long way to go in dealing with global problems. I firmly believe that all of us should cooperate on an equal footing and for mutual benefit. Indeed, if that is our initial premise, all our efforts to meet the world’s many challenges can, and will, be successful. I have no doubts about it.

Thank you for your attention. Please, enjoy the reception and a musical performance by Dina Belinski and Irina Pozdniakova.

By the way, I would like to invite you to take a glance at an exhibition we have organised here dedicated to the Ambassadors of the Russian Empire. You will see the gallery of portraits of all the Russian Ambassadors back to that time.

Thank you.