The parliamentarian highlighted ratification of the agreements on cross-border cooperation among international treaties ratified by the State Duma in 2018.
“I mean a number of agreements with our neighboring countries on financing and implementation of cross-border cooperation programmes. “These are agreements with Poland, Latvia, Finland, Norway, Lithuania, Estonia,” she said. “Despite the sanctions, we will continue to finance joint projects, including infrastructure projects in the border areas. It seems like we and these countries are not are not on the best of terms, but these ratifications indicate that there still exists a concern for preserving good neighborly relations at the level of our nationals, coming from both ordinary people and politicians. There is no desire to go so far to finally destroy our relationship, slam the door so that, as they say, all the dishes fell down and then we will not be able to put it back together. This door remains open.”
This year, we ratified documents on passenger transportation, the agreement with UNESCO on the establishment of a Competence Center in mining education, it will be organized on the base of Saint-Petersburg Mining University. “In addition, there were a number of important ratifications of a humanitarian character aimed at enhancing cooperation between foreign countries and Russia,” she noted.
Next year, as First Deputy Chairwoman of the Committee said, a number of international treaties on cross-border cooperation are expected to be ratified. Visits of foreign delegations and foreign visits of members of the State Duma are also expected to be held next year.
“In particular, we will continue to develop our cooperation with Asian countries. This year, all forums relating to Asia and Africa have been very successfully held, and we will continue this interaction. We hope that the proposal to create the SCO Parliamentary Assembly, supported by China, will be realized next year,” the parliamentarian said.
Svetlana Zhurova
Svetlana Sergeevna
recalled that in 2018 a number of important international forums were held. In particular, the Second Eurasian Women's Forum with
participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin was successfully held in Saint-
Petersburg in September. Parliamentarians, members of the State Duma and the Federation
Council also took part in its work. A number of concrete decisions was taken at the Forum, the key role of women in humanization of international relations and the formation of the dimension of the free dialogue of nations to ensure the harmonious development of mankind was noted.
“The women's issue is now in all agendas, the opportunities for women's participation in various forums are expanding. There is a general request so the women's issues will be taken into account in the work of the State Duma next year, and I hope that we will be able to manage it,” the parliamentarian stressed.
She added that
the cooperation with Japan is developing quite actively. So, a few days ago the State Duma delegation headed by the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Aleksandr
Zhukov
Alexander Dmitrievich
visited Japan and held negotiations with the leaders of the country's
parliament, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.
“We also quite often meet with our colleagues from the Parliament of Japan here in Russia. We discuss very different issues with them, for example, issues of creation of medical centers for cancer treatment,” the parliamentarian said.
Next year, according to Svetlana Zhurova, the Committee will monitor the implementation of the adopted laws. This also includes the law that simplifies procedures of obtaining Russian citizenship for participants of the state programme on resettlement to Russia of fellow countrymen who have received a temporary residence permit or residence permit. “I and my colleagues during personal receptions of citizens often receive appeals on issues related to obtaining citizenship,” she said.
It is also planned to hold in 2019 a joint meeting of the Committee on International Affairs and the Ministry of Culture on the implementation of the Federal Law “On the accession of the Russian Federation to the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled”. “We want to know how this agreement works, what kind of regulations the Government has adopted, whether there are problems in this field or additional measures are required,” Svetlana Zhurova said.
