The meetings were held in Luanda, Republic of Angola.
The delegation from the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, led by Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Inna Svyatenko, took part in the 147th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union as well as the meetings of the IPU bodies and working groups. This year’s IPU Assembly, themed Parliamentary Action for Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, was held in the Republic of Angola.
The delegation included Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Grigory Karasin; First Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Andrey Denisov; Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Agriculture and Food Policy and Environmental Management Belan Khamchiev; Member of the Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture Andrey Bazilevsky; deputy State Duma speakers Pyotr Tolstoy and Vladislav Davankov, and State Duma members.
Andrey Denisov took part in the discussion of the draft resolution on Orphanage trafficking: The role of parliaments in reducing harm at a meeting of the Standing Committee on Democracy and Human Rights. According to Denisov, during the consultations, the anti-Russia edits actively promoted by the Western countries were successfully removed, which “ensured the document’s neutral status.”
Andrey Bazilevsky gave a report at a session of the IPU Working Group on Science and Technology. The senator said that in 2022, the Russian Federation launched a major programme for accelerated economic and social development through research and high technology, and popularisation of science, making it more appealing for children and young people.
He underscored the importance of international cooperation in this field. “Cooperation between scientists from different countries is what enables science and technology to effectively respond to global environmental, epidemiological, man-made and other global challenges of our time.”
The Senator also noted that the amendments proposed by the Russian parliamentarians were taken into account in the final version of the IPU Charter on the Ethics of Science and Technology.
Belan Khamchiev spoke at the expert hearings on Ensuring Global Food Security, something the Russian senators proposed discussing at the previous IPU Assembly in Bahrain. According to Khamchiev, the causes of the current food crisis primarily stem from miscalculations and accumulated systemic errors in the macroeconomic, energy, climate and food policies of the developed countries. “The attempts to introduce ill-conceived formulas for the green transformation, which go beyond a reasonable balance between conventional and alternative energy, have had a negative impact,” the Senator emphasised.
Grigory Karasin and Andrey Denisov attended a regular meeting of the IPU Task Force for Ukraine. Those attending thoroughly considered the humanitarian topics proposed by the Task Force members. Our foreign partners pointed out that this IPU Task Force is one of the few remaining formats that still include high-ranking officials from Ukraine and Russia. The Russian parliamentarians confirmed their readiness to continue exchanges, provide materials upon request, and generally keep communication channels open.
The senators attended a number of bilateral and multilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Assembly. In particular, they participated in the coordination meeting of the heads of the CSTO member states’ parliamentary delegations in the IPU.
The IPU welcomed the accession of the Parliament of the Bahamas to the group at the Assembly in Luanda. The IPU now includes 180 national parliaments.
The 148th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union will be held on 23–27 March 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland.