Another meeting of the Commission for Cooperation between the Federation Council and the Senate of Kazakhstan took place.
Almaty, Kazakhstan, hosted a meeting of the Commission for Cooperation between the Federation Council and the Senate of Kazakhstan.
The event was chaired by the commission’s co-chairs, Federation Council Deputy Speaker Iliyas Umakhanov and Kazakhstani Senate Deputy Speaker Sergei Gromov.
Speaking at the opening of the 14th meeting, the Federation Council Deputy Speaker thanked his colleagues for the excellent organisation of the event. “Our countries and our people have close and diverse ties that are based on a solid historical foundation and are developing in an atmosphere of friendship and alliance,” Iliyas Umakhanov said.
The senator noted the regular and comprehensive inter-parliamentary dialogue. The Federation Council and the Kazakhstani Senate have strong friendly ties. Meetings between the heads of the two chambers are of great importance for the parliaments’ development, including those in November 2018, as well as on the sidelines of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly Council’s meeting in April 2019. Joint meetings of the chambers’ committees are also held.
“The mechanisms of parliamentary diplomacy do not only allow for strengthening bilateral contacts but also make a significant contribution to solving international problems,” Iliyas Umakhanov pointed out.
The senator said providing international support to promoting local contacts was among the important areas of inter-parliamentary cooperation, including increasing cross-border trade and other promising areas such as digital, bio and information technologies, healthcare, education, science and culture, as well as strengthening relations between local authorities.
Iliyas Umakhanov noted that the annual Russia-Kazakhstan Interregional Cooperation Forum attended by both presidents had been the main venue to discuss local cooperation mechanisms for many years. The 16th forum is scheduled to take place in Omsk this November. It will include the Russia-Kazakhstan Forum of Young Leaders. The Federation Council Deputy Speaker believes that parliamentarians should support this initiative.
During the meeting, the participants discussed legal issues related to digitalisation that concern bilateral relations, including in law enforcement agencies and courts, the legislative framework for supporting youth, and cooperation between Russian and Kazakhstani youth organisations.
“It is important to legislators that new technologies facilitate people’s access to law and justice,” Iliyas Umakhanov noted.
Mr Umakhanov also noted that since 2019 is the Year of Youth in Kazakhstan, it is especially important to discuss ways to provide legislative support to young people and to establish cooperation between Russian and Kazakhstani youth organisations.
The commission’s 15th meeting will be held in Russia during the autumn parliamentary session.
From Russia, the meeting was attended by Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Defence and Security Viktor Bondarev, Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on the Budget and Financial Markets Andrei Yepishin, Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Yelena Mizulina, member of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy Andrei Dmitriyenko, member of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Oleg Tsepkin, and First Deputy Chair of the Chamber of Young Legislators under the Federation Council Alexander Yefremov.