Canada and Russia, with their federal structures and similar geographic position, face common challenges. The changing demands of federal governance have been a recurring theme in bilateral relations for a decade, and the commitment of both sides to further cooperation in this area was reaffirmed during President Putin’s state visit to Canada in December 2000.

Canadian technical cooperation with Russia, funded primarily by CIDA, has a long history and is of definite interest to the Russian side. The involvement of Canadian government departments, Canada’s provinces and territories, Canadian parliamentary institutions and non-governmental players has provided Russian experts with considerable experience and good knowledge of the functioning of Canadian economic and political institutions. This experience has been taken into account in the development of recommendations for implementation of political, juridical and economic reforms in Russia.

Successful talks between President Putin and PM Chrétien in December 2000 opened new prospects for cooperation on federalism. In this connection, it is important to develop a range of coordinated measures aimed to increase the efficiency of the technical cooperation programs and to strengthen bilateral cooperation in forming effective federal institutions.

Cooperation on the socio-economic and political-legal aspects of federalism is a priority. In this the Canadian experience would be of obvious interest to Russia, while Russian experience with managing and regulating the creation of a new federation could be useful to the Canadian side.

We propose to examine five basic areas of federalism. Project in each of these areas can be developed by government officials and representatives of non-governmental organisations.

The main objectives of the programme will be:

• to examine actual economic, political and social challenges of federalism;
• to prepare practical recommendations for federal and regional state authorities;
• to exchange experiences on federalism, primarily of Canada and Russia;
• to join and coordinate efforts of state and non-governmental (research and consulting) structures, working on federalism issues;
• to attract young specialists to the study of federalism issues; and
• to establish a joint information network for analysis of federalism issues in Russia and Canada.

Basic directions of work:

• provision of a single legal sphere and the specifics of regional legislation;
• demarcation of spheres of joint responsibility;
• the role and structure of judicial authorities;
• possibilities and limits of concurrence of regional legal conditions for a favourable business climate;
• problems of municipalities and their role in the federal state.

Basic directions of work:

• budgetary federalism and improvement of inter-budgetary relations;
• division of responsibilities among the three levels of government on fiscal/tax relations;
• improvement of the business climate (de-bureaucratisation and de-regulation);
• social problems of economic reforms;
• economic problems of municipalities;
• elaboration of social and economic programs of specific regions.

In this regard, it is intended to study and develop recommendations for functions and organisation of state/public service and related personnel work in federal states.

As indicated in the Joint Statement issued by Canada and the Russian Federations on Cooperation in the Arctic and the North, this area reflects the specifics of Canadian and Russian experience as federal states, considering that an important part of both countries’ territories lie in the Arctic and North. This determines a number of quite specific problems – ecological as well as humanitarian. In Canada, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) supports the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in advancing the circumpolar and bilateral agenda. The Northern Dimension of Canada’s Foreign Policy provides a framework for coordinated focus and engagement by Canadian partners in this area.

Cooperation on issues concerning federalism conducted within the context of this Joint Statement should be complementary to work conducted under existing mechanisms such as the Memorandum of Understanding between DIAND and Russian Partners on Northern Development and Aboriginal Issues.

Basic direction of work:

• problems of indigenous peoples of the North;
• problems of resource management as it concerns northern peoples;
• migration in the Northern regions;
• problems of economic development of the North.

Problems for analysis:

• division of responsibilities of the federal level and regions in the use of natural resources;
• problems in the use of mechanisms in an agreement on production sharing and granting of concessions;
• regional aspects of the issue of land ownership;
• globalization, regionalisation and use of natural resources.