On behalf of the 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)
, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Ivan Melnikov
Ivan Ivanovich
opened the International Conference “Role of Interaction between Factions of Political Parties and Blocs in Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation of the CIS Countries”.
“We are holding a conference on this topic for the first time. 27 delegations from 10 countries are present and participate in it. Many delegations are headed by party chairmen or heads of relevant factions,” he said, reminding that it is held on the occasion of the 27th anniversary of the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
The parliamentarian stressed that “over the years we have gained a lot of experience in inter-parliamentary cooperation, and it is developing in various forms.”
According to Ivan Melnikov, this is primarily the level of the chairmen of parliaments, who regularly hold bilateral meetings and “discuss the most topical issues of inter-parliamentary and interstate cooperation.” High-level bilateral commissions with many parliaments are established and meet regularly, “friendship groups” are actively working. Finally, fruitful cooperation has been established in specific areas at the level of relevant committees, and parliamentarians from the CIS countries regularly meet on various inter-parliamentary platforms.
“However, of course, we have a reserve. And we would like to discuss how to intensify our inter-parliamentary cooperation. I would like today's conference [also] to contribute to the intensification of inter-party and inter-factional cooperation,” stated the goal of the meeting Ivan Melnikov.
Such conferences help to hear each other better, the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma, head of the United Russia faction Sergei Neverov
Neverov 
Sergey Ivanovich believes.
“The task of inter-parliamentary cooperation is, first of all, to increase the level of trust between countries. And this is especially important for the CIS countries. We have a lot in common,” he stressed. “A parliamentary diplomacy is an important tool for protecting and realizing the national interests of a country and its citizens abroad,” concluded Sergei Neverov.
“One of the key tasks of inter-parliamentary cooperation is to help resolve conflicts, maintain relations with political forces in a state, with which diplomatic relations may not be so good, forming a more balanced and objective view of their country,” said Sergei Neverov.
According to him, it is important to discuss issues of harmonization of national legislation and issues of joint confrontation to emerging challenges and threats at the conference.
Head of the Just Russia faction Sergei Mironov
Sergey Mikhailovich
stressed the importance of such meetings in view of the policy of sanctions and threats that individual Western countries are adhering: “Unfortunately, not everyone understands the benefits of this model of cooperation. A number of states cling to old patterns, the clichés of the Cold War, continue to speak the language of sanctions and information wars.”
“Personal sanctions are imposed against us, parliamentarians, in order to avoid honest and frank dialogue. This is a violation of fundamental democratic freedoms. But the sanctions pressure and propaganda hysteria were not able to influence the intensive bilateral cooperation with our key partners,” said Sergei Mironov.
In his speech, the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov
Gennady Andreyevich
focused on the issues of joint confrontation to global threats, since the CIS countries have been historically connected, and the leader of the LDPR faction Vladimir Zhirinovskii
Vladimir Volfovich
proposed to hold such meetings regularly.
“We haven’t met for 25 years,” the LDPR leader resented, adding that it would be right if “the parliamentarians meet more often, discuss everything, and take decisions.”
Chairwoman of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova Zinaida Greceanîi thanked her colleagues from the State Duma for the opportunity to take part in such a representative meeting.
“In today's world, which is changing, and which is unstable, such regional conferences are very important,” said Zinaida Greceanîi. “We support the continuation of the process of integration of the Eurasian countries and the strengthening of such associations as the CIS. I sincerely hope that today's conference will help us to unite even more in addressing the issues and challenges that our countries are facing.”
Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Mikayel Melkumyan also stressed the importance of strengthening inter-parliamentary relations between the CIS countries: “We, as parliamentarians, should propose new legislative solutions to our governments,” he said, adding that “for countries that present in single Eurasian area a number of solutions may be common, such as overcoming poverty and unemployment, protecting investments, and supporting small and medium-sized businesses.”
Heads of 27 delegations of political parties from 10 post-Soviet states, representing both parliamentary majority parties (Nur Otan of Kazakhstan, the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan) and the opposition parties (Prosperous Armenia, Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova, Ak Zhol Kazakhstan) participate in the International Conference “Role of Interaction between Factions of Political Parties and Blocs in Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation of the CIS Countries”.
A number of inter-factional meetings are held in the conference fields. Thus, the day before the opening of the conference, on November 21, the leaders of the factions “United Russia” and “Just Russia” met with parliamentarians from the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova headed by its Chairwoman Zinaida Greceanîi. On November 22, the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Sergei Neverov will meet with the Chairman of the Prosperous Armenia Party Gagik Tsarukyan, and the Communist Party faction will hold a meeting with the Chairman of the People’s Communists Party of Kazakhstan Aykyn Konurov.
