On December 13, 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)
held a meeting with Chairman of the House of Representatives of Libya Aguila Saleh.
The speakers discussed issues of cooperation between the two countries as counter-terrorism and enhancing security, as well as the prospects for the Russian-Libyan inter-parliamentary dialogue. This was the second meeting of Viacheslav Volodin and Aguila Saleh – previously they met in December 2016.
Viacheslav Volodin stressed that the parliaments of the two countries are going to sign the Agreement between the State Duma and the House of Representatives of Libya on cooperation, which, according to him, will allow “addressing specific issues on development of relations between our countries within the framework of the inter-parliamentary dimension.”
“We know you as a supporter of the development of relations with Russia. And it is extremely important for us to have this bilateral movement in our relations,” he said, stressing that they should continue to develop these relations on the principles of non-interference in each other’s affairs, the absence of double standards and understanding of responsibility to their nations.
Chairman of the House of Representatives of Libya Aguila Saleh thanked Viacheslav Volodin and the Russian Federation for all the support to the Libyan people, including endorsement of the Libyan position in the UN.
“Russia has no history of colonization or interference in internal affairs of the Arab world. And Russia's participation in regional affairs is due to the interest in ensuring the security and stability of the nationals of these states,” said the parliamentarian.
“We are interested in establishing strong contacts between our chambers. We are interested in developing humanitarian and educational ties, and want Russia to share its experience in military training,” Aguila Saleh said.
“We need Russia, we need Russia to participate in reconstruction of our country,” the Chairman of the House of Representatives of Libya stressed.
The parties discussed the settlement of the political crisis in Libya. Aguila Saleh recalled that a number of states, supporting the Libyan opposition, which overthrew the country's legitimate government in 2011, “then shied away from Libya, and this led to establishing control over entire regions of the country by the Islamist forces.”
“One of the key problems in resolving the Libyan crisis is external intervention, and also the so-called “Salvation Government”, this “government” is not supported by the parliament, its work is based on a budget that was not adopted by parliament, they illegally spend people’s money, all this leads to great losses and corruption,” Aguila Saleh said.
During the meeting, Viacheslav Volodin noted the inadmissibility of interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states. As he said, such an approach violates the rights of the peoples of these countries and leads to rising threat of terrorism.
The main outcome of the meeting was signing of the Agreement between the State Duma and the House of Representatives of Libya on cooperation, in which the parties, stating the need to further improve the constructive linkages between the parliaments of Russia and Libya, agreed to establish a permanent commission on cooperation and establish permanent links between committees, commissions and groups of members of Parliaments.
“We plan to hold meetings of our Inter-parliamentary Commission every year. The State Duma will be
represented by Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Sergei Neverov
Sergey Ivanovich
, he will supervise
the work,” Viacheslav Volodin said, adding that “our joint work should help to establish conditions for a peaceful life, employment creation.”
The parties intend to contribute to enhancing bilateral cooperation in various areas of mutual interest under the agreement.
In addition, the parliamentarians of the two countries will continue interaction in the framework of international organizations and conferences, as well as regularly information exchange about their activities, legislation, publications and other materials.
