By Kester Kenn Klomegah
MOSCOW (IDN) – Parliamentarians from the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa gathered here for a three-day international forum at the initiative of the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, to discuss the development of international parliamentarism and the most pressing national, regional and global issues, and agree on some effective approaches to determine the future of mankind in the modern world.
The agenda included topical issues on international security and stability, the development of a digital economy, youth and environmental policies. The Russia-Africa parliamentary conference was held within the framework of the forum.
The forum from June 30 to July 3, 2019 attracted representatives from more than 130 states, 40 speakers and 800 parliamentarians and experts. It was held in the World Trade Center (WTC) overlooking the Krasnopresnenskaya Naberezhnaya in Moscow.
Welcoming the guests to the grand opening ceremony, Chairman of the State Duma Viacheslav Volodin acknowledged the growing enthusiasm and interest of foreign parliamentarians to express opinions on several common issues and the importance of inter-parliamentary relations and parliamentary diplomacy in the modern world.
“The forum is becoming an authoritative platform for the exchange of best legislative practices and parliamentary experience,” he noted, and urged parliamentarians of all countries to work together for the protection of digital sovereignty. At the same time, he stressed that it was necessary to work together on the development of the digital economy as the economy of the future.
According to the Chairman of the State Duma, through constructive communication, parliamentarians could possibly increase the efficiency of interaction on issues requiring joint decisions, including on sustainable development, international security, environmental protection, fighting poverty and inequality, countering terrorism, drug trafficking, and illegal migration.
Chairperson of the Federation Council, Valentina Matvyenko, used the opportunity to urge all parliaments to participate in the World Conference on Inter-faith and Inter-civilizational Dialogue, which will be held in Russia on May 21, 2022.
Matvienko, however, reminded that in May 2018, the UN supported the organization of the World Conference on inter-faith and inter-civilizational dialogue with the participation of government leaders, parliamentarians, and representatives of leading world religions in its resolution.
In his speech delivered at the forum, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said: “The situation in the world remains challenging and is getting even more challenging in some parts. Old conflicts are not settled, and new tensions arise. In this context, cooperation between legislative bodies becomes especially important.”
Parliamentary diplomacy has to make a significant contribution to supporting trust and mutual understanding between countries and nations in their search for compromises and balanced solutions to acute international problems, according to the Foreign Minister.
He appreciated efforts made by the State Duma for bringing participants together for a common purpose of deliberating on the widest range of topical issues, such as global security, global sustainable development, the fight against poverty and environmental problems. This is exactly what people need.
Lavrov praised Russian parliamentarians for making an important contribution to the implementation of Russia’s foreign policy. He described Russia as permanently open to broad, fair and equal cooperation with all countries without exception – large and small – in any formats and said that his country will continue promoting synergy of the world’s efforts to effectively respond to common challenges, above all fight against the threat of international terrorism, which Russia is playing a leading role.
Lavrov further said that Russia considers it unacceptable to create obstacles in the work of parliamentary delegations on international platforms and hopes that the situation with the deprivation of Russian parliamentarians of their rights in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe would not happen again.
“As representatives of the legislative power, it is necessary to pay increased attention to the legal aspects of international cooperation. This is needed in a situation where individual UN member states are bypassing the Security Council, imposing unilateral illegitimate sanctions, including discriminatory restrictions on parliamentarians,” said Lavrov.
Pedro Agramunt, who was President of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) from 2016 to 2017 and a member of the Spanish Senate, informed that he had worked hard to ensure the return of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
“It was a huge mistake to keep Russia outside PACE,” he said. “As the former President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, I would like to express my satisfaction in connection with the return of the Russian Federation to PACE. I fought a lot for this. I struggled a lot to change that,” said Pedro Agramunt.
Parliamentarism is the foundation, the canon of democracy. And there is no democracy without parliamentarism, without parliamentarians, argued Agramunt. “I believe that parliamentarians have a special mission. They represent the opinion of all citizens, not only those who are in the government but those who are the essence of the state,” he reiterated.
Inter-parliamentary organizations are of fundamental importance for the stability of the world, he stressed, adding: “We must be on guard with those who are the defenders of globalism, with those who are trying to resolve problems unilaterally. And our fate is in our hands – in the hands of parliamentarians.”
Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, Andrej Danko, pointed to the issues discussed at the forum. “All these issues have a common character – the need for cooperation between states and continents. Legislators are pillars of democratic legitimacy and we represent citizens,” he said.
While congratulating Russia on returning to PACE, Danko also said that the Russian Federation should participate in the discussion and resolution of global problems and common challenges.
“We are pleased that Russia can again take the full-fledged part in the work of PACE. Europe needs Russia, and I am glad that the votes of Slovak parliamentarians contributed to this,” Danko added in appreciation the return of Russia to PACE.
Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Mustafa Şentop, stressed that all countries of the world “need channels for dialogue and cooperation. We believe that parliamentary diplomacy has begun to play a very important role,” which is confirmed, according to him, by such a representative Forum. He also expressed the hope that the Forum would strengthen bilateral ties between Russia and Turkey.
Mustafa Şentop urged parliamentarians to join efforts to counter the threats of international terrorism and extremism, as well as to enhance the role of international law institutions, adding that “international organizations like the United Nations should protect all people, not just individual countries.”
Chairman of the National Assembly of the Pakistan, Asad Qaiser, stressed that the parliamentarians should be mediators in resolving various international conflicts. “it is important to know that this Forum is increasingly helping to strengthen inter-parliamentary ties around the world. We, the parliamentarians, should be on the front line struggling for universal equality, fighting against poverty and other challenges.”
Speaker of the House of Representatives of Egypt, Ali Abdel Aal Sayyed Ahmed, noted that the forum was being held at the time when economic, political and cultural conflicts are taking place in the world. “Parliaments, as representatives of nations, play a very important role in countering these conflicts and are at the forefront of combating these challenges,” he said and stressed that it is necessary to find solutions together to overcome these problems.
The development of parliamentarism can play an effective role in this, he said, and further explained that parliamentary platform is an important mechanism that can contribute to further in-depth discussion of the issues facing the whole world. He also urged to discuss the role of young people as the “main nerve of society” in the development of parliamentarism.
Just like all foreign parliamentarians who arrived at the forum, the Speaker of the Federal National Council of the United Arab Emirates, Amal Al Qubaisi, expressed her deep gratitude to the Russian Parliament and separately to the Chairman of the State Duma, Viacheslav Volodin, for the invitation to the Forum. [IDN-InDepthNews – 05 July 2019]
Photo: World parliamentarians at an international forum in Moscow. Credit: The State Duma.
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