Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Grigory Karasin met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Argentina to Russia Eduardo Antonio Zuain.
Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Grigory Karasin met with a delegation from the Embassy of the Argentine Republic in the Russian Federation, headed by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Argentina to Russia Eduardo Zuain.
Vladimir Dzhabarov, First Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs and head of the group on cooperation between the Federation Council and the National Senate of Argentina, took part in the conversation.
Mr Karasin noted that Russia and Argentina are strategic partners. They have a long-standing history of friendly relations.
“The year 2018 was important for us: the president of Argentina came to Moscow and in the same year the president of Russia visited Argentina to take part in the G20 meeting,” Mr Karasin said.
The Senator said that, of course, the heads of state determine bilateral relations, but interparlimentary contacts are also playing a tangible role.
Grigory Karasin said Argentina will hold mid-term elections to the National Congress in November this year.
“We believe the results of these elections will further strengthen our interparliamentary contacts and promote cooperation,” Mr Karasin said.
The senator talked about preparations for the upcoming elections to the State Duma. He described the OSCE’s decision not to send its ODIHR observers to these elections as frivolous.
“We received the head of this office in Russia and coordinated the technical details. So we were surprised at the overt politicisation of the issue and the bias of our OSCE partners,” he explained.
Regarding bilateral cooperation at international venues, Mr Karasin expressed confidence that both countries are content with what they are doing at the UN and in the G20.
Eduardo Zuain noted the high level of bilateral cooperation in the international arena and emphasised the importance of interparliamentary contacts. He thanked Russia for assistance in countering the novel coronavirus infection, including the supplies of Sputnik V and expressed high appreciation for the Russian vaccine.