Opening the meeting, 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)
congratulated Mustafa Şentop with the election to the post of the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
“Relations between our countries are developing, mostly thank to our Presidents. The trade turnover, the number of Russian tourists who come to Turkey are growing. Within the framework of inter-parliamentary relations, new formats that need to be further developed are emerging,” said the Chairman of the State Duma.
In his turn, the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey thanked Viacheslav Volodin for the opportunity to meet.
“Turkish President Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin are interested in the development of our friendly relations, and I am ready to provide the greatest support for this,” said Mustafa Şentop.
“Russia and Turkey closely cooperate at a high political level,” he stressed.
He expressed the hope that at the regular meeting of the presidents of Russia and Turkey, the topic of visa liberalization between the countries will be discussed.
Mustafa Şentop also reminded that Turkey expressed a desire to receive permanent status in the Meeting of Speakers of Eurasian Countries’ Parliaments, and, moreover, Turkey would like to become a co-organizer of this event.
Speaking about the development of relations between the two countries, he said that last year the level of trade between the countries reached $ 25 billion. “This is quite a significant indicator but it is not high enough,” he added.
Moreover, the number of Russian tourists in Turkey reached a record number last year.
Viacheslav Volodin called for further development of close cooperation at the level of parliaments: ”We should coordinate our schedules in order to achieve the goals set at the highest level.“
The Chairman of the State Duma invited the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey to visit Moscow. He added that this can be done in the framework of the international forum “Development of Parliamentarism”, which will be held in Moscow in July of this year.
As the Chairman of the State Duma added, there are still two formats of interaction between the parliaments of Russia and Turkey, which appeared not so long ago but have already shown their effectiveness. One of them is the Meeting of Speakers of Eurasian Countries’ Parliaments. “Of course, we would like to see you among the participants of the meeting,” said Viacheslav Volodin.
Another promising format of interaction is the Conference of Speakers of the Parliaments of Afghanistan, China, Iran, Pakistan, Russia and Turkey on counter-terrorism and strengthening regional cooperation.
