MINSK, 5 March (BelTA) – The Federation Council of Russia's Federal Assembly aims to advance relations with the Belarusian parliament, Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko said as she met with Chairman of the House of Representatives Vladimir Andreichenko, BelTA has learned.
“Our delegation includes almost all senior officials of the upper house [the Federation Council]. It shows our traditional respect for Belarus and its people, and the intent to develop and strengthen cooperation between the parliaments. A lot has been done already, but, of course, every stage in the development needs new approaches,” Valentina Matviyenko said. “The Russian-Belarusian relations are a strategic partnership based on long history, friendship, mutual respect, and also the linguistic, spiritual, and cultural unity. We need to actively strengthen our relations,” she added.
Valentina Matviyenko noted that Belarus has been one of Russia's most important partners. “We have made serious steps in economic cooperation: $32 billion in bilateral trade has been possible thanks to our citizens, business, manufacturing, and agriculture. A total of 8,000 companies cooperate with each other, there are a lot of joint enterprises. It is important that Belarus is one of Russia's closest partners, and vice versa,” Valentina Matviyenko stressed.
She thanked Belarus for the busy program of the visit. “Today we have worked in the capital, tomorrow we are set to fly off to Brest. I think it is very symbolic that we will visit the Brest Fortress in the year when we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory [in the Great Patriotic War]. It is essential to preserve the memory and honor the history,” the speaker added.
Chairman of the House of Representatives Vladimir Andreichenko also stressed that the historical memory should be preserved and defended. “The House of Representatives has decided to hold the parliamentary hearings dedicated to the Great Victory on 9 April. We will send the Federation Council an invitation to attend the event,” he said. “The 142nd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union is also scheduled for April. We know that Russia has initiated the drafting of a declaration on parliamentary diplomacy. We have got familiar with the document and support its goals and ideas that are laid down in it, namely mutual cooperation and open dialogue. This is why Belarus is set to express support for the declaration during the assembly,” he said.
Vladimir Andreichenko added that Belarusian and Russian MPs have established good relations within the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. Belarusian MPs are also eager to continue cooperating within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. “The Forum of Regions has an important role in building the Union State. We believe that the next forum in October will also be successful. As Minsk and Minsk Oblast are among the most active participants of the event, MPs from these regions will be directly involved in organizing and holding the forum,” he noted.
Photos by Maksim Guchek
