“Bringing together the possibilities of parliamentary diplomacy and scientific and expert potential, the Forum becomes an authoritative platform
for the exchange of best legislative practices and parliamentary experience.
And that what is especially important it becomes an ever wider platform for dialogue between representatives of the nationals of our countries,” said 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)
, welcoming the guests and participants of the Forum. He thanked
everyone who took the opportunity to come to Moscow to participate in the event.
The Chairman of the State Duma recalled that representatives from 132 countries who have “different traditions and culture, national laws and political systems” are taking part in the Forum.
“I want to emphasize that our Forum provides an opportunity to communicate freely, to express their views, to build trust and mutual understanding in a dialogue,” stressed Viacheslav Volodin.
The fight against terrorism is a matter of priority
According to the Chairman of the State Duma, “through constructive communication, discussion of the current agenda, we are able not only to find mutual understanding, but also to solve many tasks of developing parliamentarism in our states, enhance the effective interface on issues requiring joint decisions.”
In particular, these are the issues of sustainable development, international security, environment protection, poverty and inequality reduction, countering terrorism, drug trafficking and illegal migration.
“Today, the main threat to peace and security is terrorism. Bloody terrorist attacks in various parts of the planet continue to take place. There is no country in the world that is safe from that. This is a universal evil. We can fight it only together. Without “double standards” and “hidden agendas”, by depriving terrorists of ideology and financial support,” said Viacheslav Volodin.
He expressed confidence that parliamentarians should contribute to a peaceful, political and diplomatic resolution of conflicts, including the most difficult ones, for example, in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as use the resources of parliamentary diplomacy to rebuild states affected by extremists and terrorists, in particular Syria.
Viacheslav Volodin also called on his colleagues to work on the adoption of model laws in such areas as the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking, illegal migration, and drew attention, in particular, to the need to create single lists of terrorist organizations so that they would not avoid responsibility.
New challenges to world stability
The Chairman of the State Duma declared that “a new serious challenge to world stability is undermining of international law and institutions that have been forming for decades. Instead, today the rules of the game that are beneficial only to a narrow group of countries are trying to be enforced. ”
“Following the logic of its own superiority, the United States practice brazen interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states, blatant military, economic, informational pressure, as a result of that we see an increase in tensions in the world. At the same time, in order to justify their aggressive behavior, they create an image of an enemy from those countries that defend the right to their own path of development, their sovereignty. And within the framework of its culture, traditions, based on democratic principles,” he stressed.
Viacheslav Volodin recalled that it was necessary to once again emphasize the resolution adopted at the 136th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union on the role of parliaments in complying with the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states.
“Relations between countries should be built on the basis of international law, enshrined in the Charter and UN resolutions,” he recalled.
“Otherwise, an attack on national sovereignty, interference in internal affairs and a violent “export of democracy” will inevitably lead to the dismantling of the entire system of international law,” said Viacheslav Volodin.
“We must be aware of this and do everything to prevent this from happening,” he addressed the parliamentarians, urging colleagues to “do everything possible to protect international law and protect those rules that largely determine the progressive development of our countries.”
Need for a dialog
In his speech, the Chairman of the State Duma also touched upon the situation in PACE, where Russia was deprived of the right to vote for several years.
“We were pleased to acknowledge that last week common sense prevailed in one of the oldest parliamentary organizations — the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. A resolution on guarantees of the rights of national delegations to vote, speak and participate in the Assembly was adopted,” he said, reminding that before that national delegations could be deprived of its rights. And that means it was possible to deny the rights of the whole country and its people.
“In our opinion, the task of the inter-parliamentary structures is to work out solutions to our countries’ problems. And often it turns out that there are two extremes present in these structures. Either parliamentary tourism or the politicization of activity,” he stressed, noting that neither the first nor the second contributes to the resolution of problems.
Protection of digital sovereignty
Another topic on which, according to Viacheslav Volodin, parliamentarians of all countries should work together is the protection of digital sovereignty.
“This is a strategic challenge, for lawmakers as well. Today work in this direction is a priority.
The threat to digital sovereignty is real. It is confirmed by attacks on the computer systems of state bodies,” said the Chairman of the State Duma.
“We see evidence of interference in the operation of the energy systems, banking sector, critical infrastructure facilities, and election campaigns of several countries. Based on this, our task is to ensure our own digital sovereignty, protection of the information space,” said Viacheslav Volodin.
However, he stressed that it is also necessary to work together on the development of the digital economy, as the economy of the future. In his opinion, this could be one of the “main directions of inter-parliamentary cooperation.”
“In this sphere, the exchange of best practices, the joint development of effective legislative solutions and common approaches are particularly important. The economy of the future is not only challenges but also breakthrough development technologies designed to improve the lives of our citizens and our countries,” he said.
“In a rapidly changing world, lawmakers need to act proactively, promote innovative national and international legal regulations, anticipating changes,” Viacheslav Volodin said.
At the end of his speech, Viacheslav Volodin spoke about the development of new inter-parliamentary formats: on the initiative of the State Duma and the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea the Fourth Meeting of Speakers of Eurasian Countries' Parliaments will be held this year.
“The annual Conference on Security and the Development of Interregional Cooperation, where Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, and Afghanistan are participating, showed its importance. These formats allow discussing topical issues of inter-parliamentary interaction,” he said.
“We proceed from the need to promote a positive, unifying agenda in order to reduce potential conflicts, cooperation, avoid undermining the system of international law, and most importantly – for the development of our countries,” concluded Viacheslav Volodin.
