Maine Delegation to Russia

Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap led a five-member delegation to the Archangel region of Russian in June and July of this year, a trip wholly sponsored by the Russian-American Rule of Law Consortium. This is only one of a series of such exchanges between Maine and the state of Archangel (called the Arkhangelsk Oblast in Russia), and the third such visit for Secretary Dunlap since his tenure in the Maine Legislature, when in 2002 he traveled with a delegation under the auspices of the American Council of Young Political Leaders. He first traveled to Archangel with state Rep. A. David Trahan (R-Waldoboro) in the winter of 2003.

Maine has enjoyed a vigorous exchange program with Archangel since 1988, when Greater Portland established its formal relationship with Archangel. With the active participation of many additional communities on both sides, the exchange has now developed into a true sister-state relationship as well. Maine’s Rule of Law connection has been in place since 1997.

With participation of many students, teachers, attorneys, legislators, librarians, doctors, judges, and other professionals, a wide network with great vitality now exists between the two regions.

The trip described in this narrative explored the cities of St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk and Novodvinsk, as well as the island community of Solovki in the White Sea. Note in the photographs of Solovki how heavily dressed everyone is for the time of year—July! Solovki is just dozens of miles from the Arctic Circle.

The themes of the exchange were explorations in municipal governance, parliamentary procedures, the work of non-profit organizations, and the role that government plays in supporting libraries and museums. Russian authorities struggle to modernize municipal government, while in America, we still are refining the roles of different levels of governance. Russians support libraries and museums with fervor, while Americans struggle to make such institutions a public policy priority. The delegation learned much from its Russian counterparts, and Secretary Dunlap’s detailed narrative relates many of the formal and social discussions on their voyage of discovery.

Journal of Trip

department INFORMATION

Maine Delegation to Russia