PDG Jon Eiche, Chair, ICC USA-Russia

Paul Harris

DG 2220 with US fellows (DG 6440 and PP 7690)

DG 2220 2006 7 with President RI Bill Boyd

ICC charter ceremony at RI HQs

with President RI Bill Boyd

ICC charter ceremony at RI HQs

Symbol of the new ICC

please kindly accept, and of course extend to all Clubs of your District the warm expression of friendship of our DG 2007-8, Anatoly Voloshin, and of all the Clubs of Russia West, including the European part of Russia and the area of Ural Mountains, a territory where almost 90% of Russians live.

In a territory where more than 100 million people live, with a capital city, Moscow, having itself a population of almost 14 million people, for the time being there are but 51 Clubs: the vital target of our District team is that of increasing the number of Clubs, during the next years, adding new and new commited Rotarians to the worldwide Rotarian family, thus increasing the number of Clubs, and last, but not least, ensuring a satisfactory level of Rotary training

We call our foreign fellows, Rotary Districts, Clubs and ICCs, to support the action of our District and of its team by strengthening ties with Russian Clubs, by encouraging friends in Russian cities to set up new Rotary Clubs, to join the great family of people sincerely devoted to service

Our first step towards the strengthening of our international ties has been that of adding to the existing Intercountry Committees (Russia-France;; Russia – Italy) a number of new ones. Among them the ICC Russia-Scandinavia, chartered in March, 2007 at Vladimir, a nice historical city some 200 miles east of Moscow, the the revitalized Russian sections of ICCs Russia-Germany and Russia-UK, and last, but not least, the setting-up of ICC Russia-USA, whose inauguration has deserved a great attention from the RI top management

The Intercountry Committee Russia-USA has been chartered on June 8, 2007, at the very Headquarters of RI, at Evanston, Illinois, USA,

The new is quoted on the official web site of Rotary International, Click to Open Web Page

It has been a moment of great solemnity, as the Charter ceremony has been attended by 4 Presidents (Bill Boyd, the Immediate Past President Carl Wilhelm Stenhammar, RIPE Wilfrid J. Wilkinson and the President Nominee Dong Kurn Lee), the RI Secretary General Ed Futa, and the RI Board members

In a period when the interstate relationship between Russia and USA are not always so friendly, as people of good will would expect, Rotarians of both countries did show once again to be able to show mutal confidence, sincere fellowship, readiness to collaborate on joint community service projects

The charter ceremony of USA-Russia ICC, celebrated at the HQs of RI, has been the logic development of a long lasting historical process: a process started in September 1930, when the “Small French-German Committee” (“Petit Comite’ Franco-Allemand”), was chartered at the first RI European Conference in The Hague, in the Netherlands; French and German Rotarians y were citizens of two countries whose Governments were already at that time countering each other in a growing resentment and animosity, which later on drove them to WWII .

After WWI (1914-18) nationalistic animosity was being revived all over Europe. But at that meeting PDG Otto Boehler (RC Vienna, D 73, Austria and Germany) and Georges Bernardot (RC Paris, D 49, France) recognised the importance of a joint attempt to try overcoming everything that could divide the two nations and find a way to meet more often in order to be able to discuss matters calmly.

It was an attempt, whose importance is that of a symbol of the good will which inspired Rotarians at that time, as well as nowadays. And it worked: it was a symbol, and it acted as a seed, which grew up after WWII, when Rotary Club started again their activity, after having been dismantled in Germany in 1937, and step by step all over the occupied Europe. During the first post-war congress of the re-established German Rotary District, on 18 March 1950 at Baden-Baden, the French Governor, Roger Coutant announced his intention to re-establish Franco-German relations in view of a united Europe. Which was done on May 20, 1950, at the District 70 Conference in Strasbourg

As a matter of fact this seed showed to be an embryo of the future new Europe as well: as Europe is a union of independent States, having in common much history and many traditions, Rotarians of Europe got united by friendly links. ICCs showed already at that time to be a wonderful tool for cancelling many grudges and long lasting misunderstandings; Rotarians are people of good will…

This is why we must feel proud not only for having witnessed the Charter ceremony of ICC USA-Russia, but also because by this way we are carrying on a tradition which was started many years ago by our fellows Rotarians of those years

And we’ll try our best to make of effective and well working ICCs the basis of our international Friendship Exchange activity. The new guidelines on Intercountry committees, approved by the Board on June 2007 (Exhibit C-4, section 37.030. of the Rotary Code of Policies), do recognize ICCs as a highly effective tool to promote contact and increase fellowship and intercultural understanding among the people of various nations. Rotarians are encouraged by RI to create new intercountry committees to foster stronger ties between Rotarians, clubs, and districts from different countries and establish networks across borders, continents, and oceans. The Rotary Code of Policies states that Intercountry committees should be promoted at RI, district and club meetings, so as to build a force that will encourage Rotarians to visit each other’s countries and homes, to strengthen friendships and projects so formed by encouraging clubs and districts to connect with clubs and districts in other countries, and to contribute to world peace.

This is what we do strongly believe, as Rotarians, and we call Rotarians of other Countries to foster stronger ties with our Russian Clubs, so as to help them more and more integrating themselves into the great worldwide Rotarians’ family

Yours in Rotary service

Gian Paolo Marello International Committee, D 2220 National ICC Coordinator, 2006-2009

New intercountry committee stresses U.S.-Russian club ties By Dean Golemis Rotary International News Photo by Dean Golemis/Rotary Images

13 June 2007

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Rotarians in Russia, the United States, and Canada took a big step toward promoting fellowship and coordinating international projects by launching the United States-Russia Intercountry Committee. The ICC chartering ceremony on 8 June coincided with the 12th annual Rotary in Russia Conference, held this year in Skokie, Illinois, USA.

The new ICC, which encompasses 10 districts, is the largest intercountry committee in the Rotary world.

"The creation of the intercountry committee is one more important step toward promoting two countries that still have missiles pointed at each other as we speak," said Andrei Danilenko, governor of District 2220 (Russia, West of the Urals). “"Can you imagine what we can do with all our districts together? We have an absolutely incredible future. Let's take full advantage of it."

Danilenko's district, which is home to 51 clubs and covers Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other parts of Western Russia, was established on 1 July and served as a catalyst for the formation of the new ICC. The first Rotary club in Russia opened in Moscow in 1990 after the fall of communism and was part of then District 142 (Finland).

At the ICC chartering ceremony held at RI headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, representatives from each district received chartering certificates from RI President William B. Boyd, President-elect Wilfrid J. Wilkinson, and President-nominee Dong Kurn Lee. Past RI President Carl-Wilhelm Stenhammar, who strongly promoted Rotary in Russia during his year in office, also attended.

In addition to District 2220, the new ICC comprises districts 5010 (Alaska, USA; Yukon, Canada; Russia, East of the Urals), 5030 (Washington, USA), 5450 (northern Colorado, USA), 5500 (Arizona, USA), 5580 (part of Ontario, Canada; North Dakota and parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin, USA), 5690 (parts of Kansas and Oklahoma, USA), 5790 and 5890 (Texas, USA), and 6840 (parts of Louisiana and Mississippi, USA). In all, the districts total more than 25,900 members in 551 clubs.

Eighty delegates from all participating districts gathered at the three-day Rotary in Russia Conference to discuss projects, membership, and youth programs in their home clubs and districts, and chart a course for the new ICC.

Past District 5890 Governor Jon Eiche, who chaired the conference, said the ICC will form committees to promote twin club relationships, hold annual meetings hosted by member districts, identify RI materials and documents to be translated into Russian, and launch a bilingual Web site.

Gian Paolo Marello, of the Rotary Club of Moscow Arbat and ICC national coordinator for District 2220, stressed that "club twinning" between Russian and North American clubs is an important first step for the ICC. "As Rotarians, projects are our children. And long-term relationships with another club will lead to ongoing projects," he said. "Such relationships will advance the fourth Object of Rotary: international understanding, goodwill, and peace."

"We're on the path of establishing the identity of Rotary in all of Russia," said Eiche, who will serve as U.S.-Russia ICC president for three years. "Rotarians can do things that governments can't. When you sit down and talk together and strip down the politics, there's very little difference between us."

Jon Eiche said the ICC will continue to accept applications for additional charter districts through 30 June 2008.