MINSK, 30 August (BelTA) - Belarus and Finland are keen to step up parliamentary cooperation. This matter was discussed at a meeting between Chairman of the Council of the Republic Mikhail Myasnikovich and a delegation of the Finnish Parliament led by the Chairman of the Group of Friendship with Belarus, a member of the National Coalition Party Wille Rydman, BelTA has learned.
The speaker noted that so far the interparliamentary contacts between the two countries have not been very active. “We should step up the work to make sure the level of parliamentary cooperation should not be below business contacts or maybe even higher,” he said.
Mikhail Myasnikovich also proposed to analyze the legal framework. “It can be more complete,” the speaker noted. Parliamentary friendship groups can be a good instrument for such work, he added.
According to the speaker, the parliamentarians should focus on the issues of international and regional cooperation. He underlined that the Belarusian side is ready to discuss any other aspects of interaction that may be of interest to partners from Finland.
For his part, Wille Rydman said that the Belarus-Finland relations are based on a good pragmatic basis. He recalled fairly active political contacts, dynamic development of mutual trade, especially at the level of small and medium-sized businesses.
The Finnish parliamentary delegation arrived in Belarus on 29 August. The guests are set to meet with the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, the Hi-Tech Park. On 30 August the Council of the Republic will host a meeting between the Finnish parliamentarians wand the National Assembly's working group on cooperation with the Parliament of Finland.
In January-June the Belarusian-Finnish trade amounted to more than $65 million, up by 11.9% over the same period of 2017. At the beginning of this year there were 24 organizations with the participation of the Finnish capital, including seven joint ventures, in Belarus.
