MINSK, 12 April (BelTA) – Problems with Belarusian food export to Russia are created artificially. Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Vladimir Andreichenko made the statement as he met with Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russia Vyacheslav Volodin in Saint Petersburg on 12 April, the press service of the lower chamber of the Belarusian parliament told BelTA.
Vladimir Andreichenko stressed that the matter of bringing the Belarusian and Russian legislation closer to each other is still important for Belarusian MPs. He suggested taking a look at the periodically emerging problems with the export of Belarusian food in Russia from the parliamentary point of view. The MP noted that it looks like these problems are created artificially in order to slow down Belarus-Russia integration processes.
In his conversation with Vyacheslav Volodin the head of the lower chamber of the Belarusian parliament focused on preparations for the 54th session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia, which is due in Brest on 17-18 June. The MP noted that first parliamentary hearings on enabling equal rights of citizens had been positively received by the general public. This is why he suggested that the next session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia should look into progress of implementation of the recommendations made by the first parliamentary hearings. Apart from that, the Union State MPs intend to test a new form of interaction — government hour — during the next session.
According to Vladimir Andreichenko, the agenda of the session should include the most topical matters such as top-priority tasks of the Union State development in 2018-2022, provided the relevant document will be approved by the Supreme State Council.
BelTA reported earlier that a Belarusian parliament delegation is taking part in events of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS IPA) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO PA) in Saint Petersburg, Russia on 12-13 April. Sessions of the CIS IPA Council, the CSTO PA Council, and the CIS IPA joint commission on harmonizing legislation on security and counteracting new challenges and threats took place on 12 April. Sessions of the CIS IPA commissions on economy and finance, on political affairs and international cooperation were held as well as a session of the CIS Youth Interparliamentary Assembly.
Participants of the CIS IPA Council session discussed matters concerning the operation of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the CIS IPA Council Secretariat. Last year's performance of the assembly was summed up and plans for the next period were discussed. Participants of the CSTO PA Council session discussed results of the Minsk session of the CSTO Collective Security Council and the situation in the organization's area of responsibility in addition to measures to counteract challenges and threats to collective security at present.
Members of the CSTO PA Council heard out reports on priorities in Kazakhstan's CSTO presidency in 2018, on progress in implementing model legislation norms and the recommendations passed by the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly in 2014-2016 into the national legislations of the CSTO member states, and on further harmonizing and mutual adjustment of the national laws of the CSTO member states. Apart from that, the main results and prospects of interaction between the parliament delegations of the CSTO member states in the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly were discussed.
