The Federation Council Deputy Speaker held a briefing on 2023 inter-parliamentary cooperation performance.
Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev reviewed the results of activities carried out to promote inter-parliamentary cooperation and develop parliamentary diplomacy in 2023.
“The results of 2023 show that parliamentary diplomacy is still in demand. When the discussion is on equal terms, parliamentary diplomacy realises its full potential,” the senator believes.
“Talking about parliamentary structures with Russia’s participation, then the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia, the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly, and the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly are on the obvious rise,” Konstantin Kosachev said.
According to him, new opportunities to implement the potential of parliamentary interaction were coming up in the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
“Of course, we are disappointed with what is happening in the OSCE PA and the PABSEC. In both cases, the organisations are controlled by Western countries, as previously happened with PACE. This influences our expectations from their activities accordingly,” the parliamentarian said.
“We are willing to continue our work in these associations as long as possible,” Konstantin Kosachev emphasised.
The Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council focused on the development of the BRICS parliamentary dimension.
“Under the chairmanship of South Africa in 2023, it was possible to institutionalise the parliamentary dimension of BRICS. In 2024, under Russia’s chairmanship of BRICS, we will have to make sure that this position is shared by the new members of the organisation. In addition, we have a number of specific ideas and proposals on how to develop the parliamentary dimension.”
In particular, Konstantin Kosachev pointed out the BRICS Parliamentary Forum scheduled for this summer in St Petersburg.
“We expect to hold it before the BRICS presidential summit, which will take place in the autumn. And in the spring, we expect to hold a meeting of the chairs of the international affairs committees of the BRICS parliaments in Moscow,” the Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council said.