Sint Petersburg International Legal Forum

Ladies and gentlemen,

It’s an honour and a pleasure to address you at this opening session of the International Legal Forum, an event with growing international acclaim. Last year my former British counterpart Kenneth Clarke summed up the Forum’s importance, when he said that it shows the Russian government’s commitment to the rule of law.

The rule of law and legal cooperation are also key elements of the current Russia-Netherlands Bilateral Year. That’s why you will see a number of Dutch speakers in the programme for the next two days. I hope they will help make this Forum a success.

When President Putin visited the Netherlands on the eighth of April as part of our bilateral year, he was welcomed by our head of state at the time, Queen Beatrix. You may have seen coverage of the investiture of our new king, Willem-Alexander, last month. Perhaps you also noticed his wife, Queen Máxima. One of her distant predecessors was Grand Duchess Anna Paulowna (pronounced: Pávlovna), daughter of a Russian tsar. In 1816, the grand duchess married Crown Prince Willem, who later became King Willem the Second, in the Rose Pavilion of Pavlovsk Palace. That’s close to where we are now. Our new king is one of her direct descendants ¬– her great-great-great-great grandson. So as you can see, our countries are connected in many ways.

In his speech to the Dutch Parliament, our new king said: ‘Democracy is based on mutual trust. The people’s trust in the government – one that respects the law and offers its citizens prospects for the future. But also the government’s trust in the people – citizens who feel a shared responsibility for the public interest and are willing to stand up for one another.’

These words describe the essence of a democratic state under the rule of law: the law creates guarantees for people, above all in relation to the government. The law also offers people and businesses a framework of legal certainty, in which they can live and work freely. Our new constitutional monarch, bound by our democratic constitution, was also stressing the importance of trust. In effect, he said that if the government wants the people’s trust, it must start by trusting the people. The government needs to treat the public as partners in the democratic process, responsible citizens who can say exactly what they want. In order to underpin this mutual trust, the government must act transparently, be accountable for its actions and allow freedom of expression. And as countless studies have shown, the rule of law, legal certainty and mutual trust are essential for sustainable economic growth.

In these times of globalisation, trust between states and cooperation between legal systems are essential too. That’s because they create legal certainty – in international trade, services and industry. And because they offer legal protection to citizens who travel across borders to work, to take holidays, or for cultural or family reasons.

The Russian Federation and the Netherlands certainly have close ties in this area. For example, we have been working together for some time to modernise the Russian Civil Code, a subject which will be covered in one of the seminars. I’d also like to highlight the seminars on new and highly promising forms of cooperation on forensic investigation and cyber security. We face great challenges in these fields and we can’t tackle them alone. The Netherlands Forensic Institute is in the vanguard of forensic science, particularly in new areas like DNA and cyber forensics. Our experts are looking forward to comparing notes and exploring the scope for cooperation with their Russian counterparts and others.

The Netherlands is glad that many Russian companies value our business climate. Our stable legal structure and the quality of our legal system form part of this. Very recently it became clear that the construction of a Russian oil terminal in the Port of Rotterdam would go ahead. This 800 million euro investment will allow an increase in the import and transhipment of Russian oil and oil products via the port. This shows our mutual trust and our faith in the benefits of working together on economic and legal matters.

Friends must also feel free to offer each other constructive criticism. The Netherlands makes mistakes of its own and we are happy to discuss them. Not only to put them right, but also to learn from them. And where possible to stop them happening again. We face critical recommendations from Strasbourg and Geneva too, and we have to listen to lectures. Sometimes that’s painful and expensive, but we see it as pain for a purpose and an investment in the future.

We would continue to stress that a number of universal values are crucial to sustainable social and economic development. Such as respect for the rights of the individual, freedom of expression and the independence of the courts.

Despite the differences between our countries, and sometimes our societies and political views, we have lots in common. We have common interests and common challenges. And we have an open dialogue to discuss them, based on treaties to which we are both party. Treaties signed within organisations such as the United Nations and the Council of Europe, founded on universal values to which we are both committed.

It’s one thing to formulate values in laws and treaties. Implementing and enforcing them is another. It’s the difference between ‘law in books’ and ‘law in action’. The Netherlands is proud that The Hague is home to many institutions that apply these values to international legal relations. These include a number of international courts. Peter Tomka, President of the International Court of Justice, has just been talking about them / will no doubt be saying more about them soon. I look forward to welcoming you to the session on these institutions tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock.

I also look forward to a continued open and constructive dialogue and to strengthened cooperation between Russia and the Netherlands.

Thank you.