Events

Federation Council holds joint meeting of its cooperation group with Nicaragua’s National Assembly

Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko sent a video message to the meeting’s participants.


The Federation Council and the National Assembly of the Republic of Nicaragua held a joint meeting of their cooperation groups, timed to coincide with the Day of Friendship between Russia and Nicaragua.

Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko sent a video message to the meeting’s participants.

During the meeting, Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Galina Karelova reminded the participants that the meeting was timed to coincide with a historical date for the two countries, marking the 78th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Russia and Nicaragua. “Over these years, we have laid a solid foundation for stepping up our bilateral cooperation in various spheres and promoting constructive dialogue in international organisations. I strongly believe that we can benefit from this positive experience for further expanding our inter-parliamentary ties,” she pointed out.

The Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council went on to thank the National Assembly of Nicaragua for designating 12 December as the Russia-Nicaragua Friendship Day, a national holiday. “We would like to praise Nicaragua for making this gesture and believe that this reaffirms our historical brotherly ties of friendship and cooperation between our countries, and Nicaragua’s consistent policy to further promote and strengthen bilateral partnership ties in various areas.”

Galina Karelova noted that Nicaragua is Russia’s core partner in Latin America and maintains close ties with Russia despite the distance that separates them. “Considering the current challenges, the topics of ensuring genuine sovereignty, carrying out an independent foreign policy and promoting the equality of states has special importance and relevance for all nations and generations. We view Nicaragua as a role model in terms of its firm, principled and inflexible position on these matters. We reaffirm our commitment to extending our political support to Nicaragua, as well as helping it resolve the socioeconomic challenges it faces, including through various mechanisms for promoting humanitarian cooperation,” she said.

Galina Karelova reassured the participants that senators view efforts to expand interparliamentary ties as an important avenue for promoting bilateral relations between the two countries. “We are open to further stepping up our contacts, including by following up on the 2015 cooperation agreements between the two chambers of Russia’s Federal Assembly and Nicaragua’s National Assembly.”

Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Grigory Karasin said that the meeting was taking place against the backdrop of major challenges on the foreign policy front. “Countries of the collective West have been refusing to take into consideration Russia’s concerns on matters of strategic security, and unleashed an economic war of sanctions against our country. We remember all too well in Russia how Nicaragua suffered from the interference by the Americans in its sovereign affairs, when the US tried to stir up tension in the country in quite the same way as it happened in Ukraine,” the member of parliament pointed out.

“We strongly believe that there is potential for countering the policy of confrontation and instigating conflicts by the collective West. This potential stems from returning to common sense and strictly abiding by the universally recognised principles of international law as set forth in the UN Charter,” Mr Karasin emphasised.

In this connection, he noted that Russia and Nicaragua both contribute to the work of the recently created Group of Friends in Defence of the Charter of the United Nations.

Grigory Karasin said that he was certain that by steadily maintaining the high level of trust in their relations, Russia and Nicaragua will be able to continue working together to strengthen their multi-faceted bilateral cooperation, while also coordinating their actions within international platforms.

Participants in the meeting included Chair of the Federation Council Committee on the Rules of Procedure and Parliamentary Governance Vyacheslav Timchenko, First Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building, Head of the Federation Council Cooperation Group with the National Assembly of the Republic of Nicaragua Vladimir Poletayev, senators of the Russian Federation Andrey Bazilevsky, Nikolay Vladimirov, and Maxim Kavdzharadze, as well as representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Nicaragua, and Russia’s and Nicaragua’s respective ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary.