A conference titled \"The Diaspora Is a Russian Intellectual Resource\" organized by the Russian government opened in Moscow on 15 October, with 300 delegates representing Russian emigre communities in 58 countries, ORT reported. According to the Foreign Ministry, there are about 35 million Russian speakers living outside of Russia, including about 27 million living in the former Soviet republics and 8 million living elsewhere. There are about 3 million Russian speakers -- representing four waves of emigration in the 20th century – living in the United States. ORT noted that Russian speakers play an active role in political and economic lives of the countries where they live, and cited the recent gubernatorial election in California as an example. Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger was reportedly widely supported by local Russian speakers. Addressing the Moscow conference, Moscow Mayor Yurii Luzhkov called for a federal agency to coordinate contacts with Russian communities abroad. Duma Committee for CIS Affairs Chairman Andrei Kokoshin (Fatherland-Unified Russia) said that the government has increased spending for support of Russian speakers abroad by 25 percent in 2003. (RFE/RL)