As the official visit of the State Duma members to Brest took place on the eve of the Memorial Day celebrated on 22 June, Russian and Belarusian parliamentarians laid flowers on the Eternal Flame of the Brest Fortress.
The delegation was headed by Chairman of the State Duma Viacheslav Volodin
Vyacheslav Victorovich
The Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the eighth convocation. Elected in single mandate constituency № 163 (Saratov constituency - Saratov Oblast)
and Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus Vladimir Andreichenko.
“Together with our colleagues from the Belarusian parliament, together with those who today represent the [Parliamentary] Assembly of Belarus and Russia, we have bowed to our grandfathers and great-grandfathers. Here, in the Brest Fortress, they took the fight, and many died, defending the Motherland and our life,” Viacheslav Volodin told reporters. Vladimir Andreichenko noted the symbolism of the beginning of the 54th session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia with a visit to the Brest Fortress. “Thanks to the unity, courage, heroism of our peoples we stood up in that war and it is very symbolic that today we are together. Yes, there are many problems, we are solving them, we are considering the issues, but we are moving to the right direction,” the Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus stressed.
Chairman of the State Duma Viacheslav Volodin also reminded about the establishment of the Youth Chamber, which was formed on the eve of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union, and drew attention to the fact that young parliamentarians began their work by visiting the Brest Fortress.
Speaking at the opening of the 54th session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia, Chairman of the State Duma Viacheslav Volodin stated that “it is necessary to make complex decisions that bring our countries closer to each other and that will make our Union State of Belarus and Russia more efficient”. The Chairman of the State Duma said that in the session’s agenda there were issues that would be a good reason for analyzing the legislation of the two countries, its unification, as well as the implementation of joint projects in important areas.
Speaking at the meeting, Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus Vladimir Andreichenko noted that protectionism has recently become the “main disintegrator” of the allied relations between Belarus and Russia, and the volume of five-year-old trade turnover between the two countries “still has not been restored”.
He believes that for positive dynamics countries need to look for points of development, which include “creating equal working conditions for Belarusian and Russian enterprises and organizations”.
Vladimir Andreichenko called for “expanding cooperation ties, mastering new industrial segments, including within the framework of import substitution, and deepening scientific and technical cooperation”. The Parliamentary Assembly has the potential to address these issues, but these opportunities have not been “fully utilized today”.
“We believe that all eight commissions of the Parliamentary Assembly should immediately react to any problematic issues in the Union State, promptly gathering for their meetings,” said the Chairman of the Chamber of the Belarusian Parliament.
Viacheslav Volodin suggested that ways to resolve certain issues should be discussed at an additional meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly. “There is an offer to support Vladimir Pavlovich [Andreichenko]. If we switch to a specific language, we are not working out enough, because a lot of issues that require consideration cannot be physically reviewed only twice a year at our meetings,” he said.
Within the framework of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia, a “government hour” will be held with the participation of representatives of the governments of the two countries, Viacheslav Volodin said after the event.
“We believe that this will unambiguously enable the Parliamentary Assembly to work more efficiently,” he said and drew attention to the fact that the organization's regulations allow such control powers to be used at the parliamentary level within the framework of the Union State.
Viacheslav Volodin said that the commissions of the Parliamentary Assembly will elaborate their proposals in the near future and a schedule of such hearings of representatives of the executive power will be drawn up.
The Chairman of the State Duma noted that this is primarily due to the fact that the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus are to solve a number of tasks related to the harmonization of trade and economic relations, the harmonization of industrial policy, and the development of cooperation ties between the enterprises of the two countries.
