On May 2 – 4, the delegation of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) has taken part in the annual forum organized in Washington DC by the American Jewish Committee (AJC), one of the oldest and most important Jewish organizations of the USA, which is active on the global arena and defends not only the interests of Israel and Jewish communities, but also human rights and democratic values.

The EAJC is connected with the AJC by a long-standing friendship and business relations, formalized by a treaty on strategic partnership. The annual global AJC Forum is one of the most important events in the life of the Jewish Disapora, and the EAJC always participates in this event with a representative delegation of leaders from post-Soviet and Eastern European countries, the communities of which are part of the Congress. This year, the EAJC was represented by EAJC Secretary General Michael Chlenov, General Council Chairman Josef Zisels, PR Department head Roman Spector, Executive Director of the EAJC Moscow office Natalia Schmidt, Program Director of the Kyiv office Lyudmila Braginskaya, and EAJC General Council member Alexander Baron (Kazakhstan), Guram Batiashvili and Elena Berkovich (Georgia), Rimma Varjyapetyan-Feller (Armenia), Rimma Golovina (Uzbekistan), Vyacheslav Likhachev (Ukraine).

The main topics of discussion of this year’s Forum were the pressing problems of Israel and the Diaspora that are tied to recent global challenges – Iran’s nuclear ambitions, problems of terrorism and community security all over the world, as well as counteraction to the campaign of delegitimization against the Jewish state.

An expanded meeting of the EAJC Presidium took place during the Forum. The Presidium discussed current issues related to Congress activity, first and foremost those involving the preparation of the General Assembly – a conference of community leaders from the EAJC regions that takes place once in five years. The election of the new President of the Congress will take place at this year’s Congress.

Before the beginning of the Washington DC Forum, the leaders of the Congress, including Acting President Vadim Shulman, held a number of working meetings in New York. In particular, the unique status of the EAJC as representative of Jewish communities in international Jewish structures was confirmed during negotiations with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. A new iteration of the already traditional joint diplomatic mission by the EAJC and the Conference of Presidents was also discussed. There was also a meeting between the representatives of the Congress and another organization with which it is tied by long-standing partnership – the NCSJ. In particular, the meeting involved NCSJ President Alexander Smukler and Executive Director Mark Levin. The EAJC Secretary General Michael Chlenov has also held negotiations with the President of the World Jewish Congress Ronald Lauder. Several days earlier, Michael Chlenov also participated in a meeting between representatives of the Conference of Presidents and the NCSJ with the hierarchs of Ukrainian churches, after which negotiations were held between Michael Chlenov and the Patriarch of Kyiv and All Ukraine Filaret.