MINSK, 27 July (BelTA) – Chairperson of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Natalya Kochanova met with members of the Youth Council (Parliament) of the National Assembly of Belarus on 26 July, BelTA has learned.
“I am truly pleased to welcome you. We agreed to meet on a regular basis to discuss the most pressing issues on the agenda, to compare notes in our work. Today it is very important for us to know what the Youth Council and our young colleagues are doing. We have already held several such meetings. First of all, I want to thank you for your active participation in all the events of the Council of the Republic. Just recently we held an on-site session of the Presidium in Ushachi, which was also attended by our young colleagues. I think it is a good school, a good experience. We will continue doing this,” said Natalya Kochanova.
According to the speaker, young parliamentarians need to communicate more with people in the regions. “We need to meet more with different categories of people. There is still a lot of information that people do not know. Because internet sources, websites show that dirt, lies and fake news will continue. We cannot avoid that. It is important for us to work proactively, which means meeting with people and sharing truthful information with them,” said the chairperson of the Council of the Republic.
In this regard, meetings with people have proven their worth, Natalya Kochanova emphasized. “The next meeting of the Presidium of the Council of the Republic will be held in Minsk in the first decade of August. We will visit all administrations of the city, and then summarize the results,” she added.
The Youth Parliament has only been working for one year, but a lot has already been done, said Chairman of the Committee on Entrepreneurship, Economy and Innovative Development Maksim Krupeichenko. “This year is very fruitful. We can already see real results of our work. The Youth Parliament has 70 members – these are young people from all over the country. Public receptions have been organized on our theme on a permanent basis. The members of the Youth Parliament also take part in the dialogue platforms and in the organization of the youth business incubator. In my opinion, the Youth Parliament has proved its worth. I want to say thank you for the support of our activity by the Council of the Republic,” he said.
Dmitry Karpikov, Chairman of the Vishov Rural Executive Committee and Deputy Chairman of the Commission on Ecology, Volunteerism and Sustainable Development, added that the Youth Parliament has great prospects. “I believe that a lot has been done this year. The advantage of the Youth Parliament is that we are located all over Belarus and can hear the youth in the remotest areas. These young people have a lot of interesting thoughts and ideas, which we would like to bring to the highest level. That is exactly what we can do. I think that we still have a long way to go. We should not stop. There is still a lot of work,” the young parliamentarian added.
Members of the Youth Council (Parliament) at the National Assembly have initiated the Historical Memory project, within the framework of which a commemorative meeting was held at the site of a concentration camp in the town of Bereza (Brest Oblast) in April 2021. The Youth Parliament has also announced a fundraising campaign to set up a memorial complex to victims of political repression by Polish authorities in Western Belarus in the period of 1921-1939. Ahead of the Victory Day celebrations the Youth Parliament was one of the initiators of the Victory Alley project. The laying of the alley of the same name was held together with public and political representatives during the launch of the project in Minsk. Any Belarusian could join the action by planting a tree in memory of those killed in the Great Patriotic War. In June, the Youth Parliament replaced in Minsk the obsolete memorial plaque in memory of S. O. Pritytski, a prominent Soviet and Belarusian political activist, organizer of the Komsomol underground in Western Belarus and a participant of the Great Patriotic War.
The work in the information space continues. The Youth Parliament has launched its website mpns.by. Work is underway to launch an information and analytical program under the working title The Senate on STV TV channel, which will cover the activities of the Council of the Republic, its members, and the Youth Parliament.
In order to organize the participation of the Youth Parliament in the legislative process, each profile commission has been assigned a list of bills that are under consideration in the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic. The Youth Parliament's website mpns.by collects proposals from young people on amendments to the Basic Law of Belarus. Members of the Youth Parliament continue to meet with representatives of student groups as part of the Belarus of the Future project. At present the format of these meetings is focused on collecting proposals to amend the Constitution.
An online meeting was held with representatives of the Youth Parliament under the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Belarus' experience in youth parliamentarism was presented at the international forum Global Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, which was held on the initiative of the Parliament of Uzbekistan. A joint meeting of the governing bodies of the Youth Parliament under the National Assembly and the Chamber of Young Legislators under the Federation Council was held during the eighth Forum of Regions of Belarus and Russia. An agreement on partnership and cooperation was signed. Meetings with representatives of the youth parliamentary bodies of the Kaliningrad and Tambov regions of Russia were held in June.
In July a meeting took place with the deputies of Odessa Oblast and city councils who represent the political party Opposition Platform - For Life that publicly condemned the attempt of coup d'etat in Belarus in 2020 at the Supreme Council of Ukraine. The Youth Parliament is currently working on the possibility of organizing a Belarusian-Chinese youth forum.
