The delegation of Moldovan parliamentarians was led by the Chairwoman of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova, the head of the PSRM faction in the Parliament of Moldova Zinaida Greceanîi.
The Russian side was represented at the meeting by members of the United Russia faction: Deputy Chairman of the State Duma, head of the Moldovan-Russian inter-parliamentary friendship group Petr Tolstoy
Petr Olegovich
, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Security and Corruption Control Anatolii Vybornyi
Anatoly Borisovich
, and member of the Committee on Transport and Construction Vladimir Afonskii
Vladimir Igoreviсh
.
Head of the United Russia faction, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Sergei Neverov
Sergey Ivanovich
expressed regret at the lack of dialogue between the relevant committees of the parliaments of the two countries. “Your President spoke about this today at a plenary meeting [of the State Duma]. But it seems to me that the format of interaction between the factions has already been quite well established. The agreement that was signed by you and the Chairman of our party, Dmitry Medvedev, facilitates this. Our constant contacts and our “friendship group”, headed by Petr Tolstoy, also helps,” said Sergei Neverov, referring to Zinaida Greceanîi.
He drew attention to the fact that many Russian and Moldovan parliamentarians are ready to take an active part in the work of the inter-parliamentary group and expressed the hope that in the near future it will be possible to restart the format of its work.
In her turn, Zinaida Greceanîi thanked the representatives of United Russia for their assistance in preparing the party candidates for the parliamentary elections in Moldova that will be held under a mixed system, which is new for the country, on February 24, 2019. According to the new rules, half of the members of the Parliament are elected by party lists, and the other by single-seat constituencies. “For us, this is a new experience,” the Party Chairwoman noted.
“For the first time you will have mixed system elections, taking into account single-seat constituencies there are some differences,” said Sergei Neverov, adding “and I am glad that we were able to tell you about some starting moments that need attention on the elections. We have already discussed the additional work format for training your colleagues. I think this will also be helpful.“
He said that within the framework of the interaction of a “friendship group”, members of the faction are always ready to discuss issues that are topical for the colleagues. “Because, if we talk, for example, about the single-seat constituency of Petr [Tolstoy], he was elected here in Moscow, this is a rather difficult constituency. And a large number of colleagues passed this way through single-seat constituencies. It has its own specifics, we have already seen this. Therefore, we are ready to hold additional discussions if necessary,” said Sergei Neverov.
“For us, of course, the result you are counting on is extremely important, and I hope the voters will come to the polling stations. This will allow developing in the direction that your President told us today, delivering his speech at the meeting,” the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma stressed.
Zinaida Greceanîi also asked to contribute to the formation of an observation corps in the upcoming elections: “Sergei Ivanovich, it will be very important to send observers from the CIS Executive Committee, the OSCE Inter-Parliamentary Assembly. There are 46 single-seat constituencies in the country, and it is preferred that there be enough observers.”
“Without a doubt, we will send our observers and within the framework of our Central Election Commission, the Union of Russia and Belarus, and the CSTO,” said Sergei Neverov. “We will use all possible ways to send observers,” he added.
“We are ready to do this within the framework of all international organizations,” added Petr Tolstoy.
He also invited representatives of the Socialist Party to hold a series of thematic meetings before the elections to the Parliament of Moldova. “For our part, we could hold joint meetings before the election day. We are talking about economic cooperation, the development of agriculture. It seems to me that discussion of specific projects can be useful not only for our cooperation but also for strengthening the credibility of your party. Not just meet and talk, but we agree that there is such a project and we are working on it. And at the level of the State Duma committees, we, being the largest faction, are ready to lead and direct this work,” said Tolstoy.
In addition, within the framework of the work of the Committee on Issues of the Commonwealth of Independent States and Contacts with Fellow Countryman, a decision was made to hold a large meeting with representatives of Diasporas to discuss the existing problems and resolve them, he said.
