Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Defence and Security Vladimir Bulavin and senators from the Federation Council’s Cooperation Group with the People’s Assembly of the Syrian Arab Republic took part in the conversation.
Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev held a meeting with the delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic’s People’s Assembly headed by Basem As-Sudan, member of the People’s Assembly of Syria and Chair of the Russia-Syria Parliamentary Friendship Committee. Syrian MPs took part in monitoring the presidential election in the Russian Federation alongside other international observers.
Konstantin Kosachev noted that Russia and Syria have developed a strong relationship between their respective parliaments.
The Deputy Speaker pointed out that the Federation Council viewed Syria as Russia’s reliable partner and ally in the Middle East. Moreover, the Russian senators derive their vision of the Russia-Syria relations in all their aspects from the recent annual Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly.
Konstantin Kosachev went on to remind the participants about the important decisions to expand bilateral relations in an all-round effort resulting from the March 2023 visit by the President of Syria to Russia.
“Parliamentarians have a mission to ensure that these decisions are implemented in full,” the Senator pointed out.
He also said that the Federation Council has a representative Cooperation Group with the People’s Assembly of Syria. “The way this group works with our Syrian colleagues offers a telling example of the constructive and trust-based dialogue between our parliamentarians.”
The Deputy Speaker voiced a suggestion to have Russian and Syrian MPs exchange their best practices in view of the upcoming election to the People’s Assembly of Syria, which is scheduled to take place in July 2024.
In his remarks, Basem As-Sudan talked about the permanence in the friendly relations between Russia and Syria, including in terms of their parliamentary track.
He also praised Russia for holding a well-organised and democratic presidential election.
Basem As-Sudan also mentioned the commitment to promote stronger ties between Russia and Syrian MPs and invited the Russian senators to take part in monitoring the election to the People’s Assembly of Syria.
Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Defence and Security Vladimir Bulavin, as well as senators from the Federation Council’s Cooperation Group with the People’s Assembly of the Syrian Arab Republic Sergey Muratov, who chairs the group, Konstantin Basyuk, Krym Kazanokov, Natalia Nikonorova, Margarita Pavlova, and Sergey Kolbin took part in the conversations.
Vladimir Bulavin thanked his Syrian colleagues for their proactive contribution to the monitoring mission and for praising Russia’s arrangements for the presidential election. “Today’s meeting will offer an additional impetus to our efforts to expand cooperation between the People’s Assembly of the Syrian Arab Republic and the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation,” the Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Defence and Security pointed out.
During the meeting, Russian and Syrian parliamentarians discussed the joint work plan for the Federation Council’s Cooperation Group with the People’s Assembly of the Syrian Arab Republic and the Russia-Syria Parliamentary Friendship Group of the Syrian People’s Assembly. They expressed their mutual commitment to expand their bilateral contacts. The meeting also included an exchange of views on the latest international developments and other matters of concern for people in both countries from the agenda of the two parliaments, the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and the People’s Assembly of the Syrian Arab Republic.