“Our relations are developing and that's great that they are developing comprehensively,” — Chairman of the State Duma said, when opening the meeting.
He recalled that this meeting is the second over the past month — on October 8, 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 Maja Gojković held a meeting in the framework of the Third Meeting of Speakers of Eurasian Countries’ Parliaments.
Chairman of the State Duma emphasized that first of all, the Presidents of Russia and Serbia provide momentum for bilateral relations, and the main task of the parliamentarians of the two countries is to provide legislative support for their decisions.
“It would be right to discuss the issues of legislative regulation of the digital economy and to share our countries’ current experience,” Viacheslav Volodin said.
According to the Chairman of the State Duma, cooperation between the two states in the humanitarian sphere, education and trade is developing. He reminded that the trade turnover over the past six months (compared to the same period of 2017) has increased by 10%. The flow of tourists from Russia to Serbia has also increased — for five times in the last 10 years. “This is a very good indicator”, — Viacheslav Volodin said.
“Our relations are developing at all levels, starting with the presidential level,” Maja Gojković said, stressing that “we are proud” of the cooperation between Serbian and Russian Presidents. In particular, it is expected that four interstate agreements will be signed during the upcoming visit of Vladimir Putin to Serbia, and those agreements will be priorities for the Serbian side, the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia noted.
The parties also discussed the development of cooperation within the framework of inter-parliamentary associations. “We can better understand each other with a help of our work within the framework of inter-parliamentary structures,” Viacheslav Volodin said.
“Our delegation is trying to help in PACE. We have a proclaimed position. We support the recovery of the right to vote to all members of the [delegation] of the Russian Federation. We believe that no member of parliament should be under sanctions. We hope that the consultations will continue and we will see some results,” Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia said.
“Serbia will never impose sanctions against Russia, neither political nor economic,” Maja Gojković said, reminding that Serbia was also under sanctions.
Viacheslav Volodin thanked his Serbian colleague for the principled position on the non-imposition of anti-Russian sanctions, emphasizing that “this position means a lot”, as well as for the rejection of discrimination of the Russian delegation in PACE.
“Until PACE changes the discriminatory norms of the Charter in relation to any national delegation, we cannot take part in the work of the organization,” — Chairman of the State Duma said.”I hope that we will see positive changes in PACE in the future.“
“Of course, I would like to thank you for your position in PACE. We also fully share it. The rights of all national delegations should be protected, all countries are equal,” Viacheslav Volodin said, recalling that “this is also reflected in the Charter of the Council of Europe.”
As he said, loss of voting rights or a ban on entry for a politician is “not only a weak position, it is a violation of the fundamental principles of parliamentarism.”
In turn, Maja Gojković invited Russian colleagues to take part in the meeting of the Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which will be held in Belgrade next autumn.
