The first joint meeting of the international affairs committees of the two chambers of the Russian Federal Council took place in the State Duma and involved members of parliament from Turkey and Iran.
The first joint meeting of the international affairs committees of the two chambers of the Russian Federal Council took place in the State Duma and involved members of parliament from Turkey and Iran.
Russia was represented by State Duma Deputy Speaker Sergei Neverov, Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Konstantin Kosachev and his first deputy Vladimir Dzhabarov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky and Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security and Corruption Control Vasily Piskarev.
The parliamentary delegation from foreign countries was headed by Volkan Bozkir, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, and Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, Chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The MPs discussed the organisation of a new security architecture in the Middle East, possible return of displaced persons from the Syrian Arab Republic to their country as well as prospects for inter-parliamentary cooperation in solving the region’s problems.
In his welcome remarks, Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Sergei Neverov noted that the multilateral format of the regular meetings was extremely efficient. “Cooperation between our countries has a steady development trend. Partnership at the political and military levels is extremely important for the efficient countering of the threat of international terrorism,” the deputy speaker said.
In his speech, Konstantin Kosachev stressed the importance of strengthening the role of parliamentary diplomacy. “A constructive agenda for our discussion will be to unite efforts and build a multipolar world based on recognition of national interests, non-interference in domestic affairs and respect for our countries and peoples’ right to independent and sovereign development,” the senator believes.
MPs from the foreign countries thanked their Russian colleagues for the opportunity to hold a trilateral meeting and supported further discussions in the same format. “Our meeting has an important political significance. We are united in all the issues related to strengthening security in Syria. As an inter-parliamentary group we are the voice of the people and must do everything towards the development of cooperation and holding our meetings regularly,” Volkan Bozkir said.
On his part, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh noted that Russia, Iran and Turkey are doing their best to resolve the crisis in the region as soon as possible.
As the joint meeting was closing, the participants proposed holding a large-scale inter-parliamentary conference on the return of Syrian refugees to their country and restoring the infrastructure destroyed during hostilities.