The Federation Council Speaker had a meeting with Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces at the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa Amos Masondo.
Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko held talks on intensifying inter-parliamentary cooperation with Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces at the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa Amos Masondo.
The Federation Council Speaker thanked Amos Masondo for attending and delivering interesting remarks at the Second International Parliamentary Conference Russia-Africa. According to Ms Matvienko, the participation of the heads of both chambers of the South African Parliament testifies to a special relationship between Russia and South Africa, a high level of inter-parliamentary collaboration, and an interest in developing their interstate strategic partnership. “South Africa is Russia’s strategic partner and time-tested friend,” she said.
Valentina Matvienko spoke at length about preparations for the Second Russia-Africa Summit scheduled to take place in St Petersburg in July 2023. “We highly appreciate President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to attend it. We regard this decision as a sign of interest in promoting cooperation in a wide range of areas,” she remarked. The Federation Council Speaker said that the summit agenda will include discussion of the issues related to consolidating multipolarity in the world. Decisions on ensuring trade and economic ties will also be a priority. According to Ms Matvienko, business conferences and a forum on expanding humanitarian cooperation will be held on the sidelines of the summit.
Valentina Matvienko noted the importance of priorities outlined by South Africa in the context of its BRICS Chairmanship this year. She sees much promise in parliamentary cooperation within BRICS. “The BRICS countries’ leadership in developing a unifying course for creating a truly multipolar system of interstate relations based on international law and key principles of the UN Charter is as relevant as never before,” she said. The Federation Council Speaker believes that this important venue plays a significant role in defining the international agenda and is an economic pole in its own right in the multipolar world.
In this context, she believes it is a priority to institutionalise the BRICS parliamentary dimension and hold regular meetings of BRICS MPs unrelated to other multilateral formats.
In addition, Valentina Matvienko noted the need to go on with the work, including in the period of South African Chairmanship, to formulate the criteria for accepting new BRICS members.
Amos Masondo agreed that MPs should play a more important role within BRICS, since it had many economic and social issues on its agenda.
The Federation Council Speaker also called for expanding the Russia-South Africa inter-parliamentary dialogue, specifically by intensifying collaboration between related committees and using the potential of the Group for Cooperation between the Federation Council and the National Council of Provinces. Valentina Matvienko also put forward an initiative to hold videoconferences, including between young members of parliament.
The officials also discussed interregional ties. According to the Federation Council Speaker, Russian regions and South African provinces are increasingly interested in establishing mutually beneficial cooperation.
The Federation Council Speaker invited the South African delegation to take part in the 10th Neva Environmental Congress.
Amos Masondo stressed that strategic relations with Russia were of great importance for South Africa.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Speaker Konstantin Kosachev, Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Grigory Karasin, First Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Vladimir Dzhabarov, and Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture Lyudmila Skakovskaya.