Chairman of the State Duma urged BRICS parliamentarians to resist political confrontation in the fight against the pandemic

At the beginning of the meeting, Viacheslav Volodin 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) read out the text of the greetings of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the participants, organizers and guests of the Sixth BRICS Parliamentary Forum.

“The world is changing rapidly, new threats appear, such as coronavirus infection. The global stability requires a prompt response to these challenges. But we see that the pandemic situation is another possibility for political confrontation and unfair competition. We should resist that. International cooperation for the health and well-being of people should address effectively these challenges,” said Viacheslav Volodin in his speech.

Vaccine production

The Chairman of the State Duma recalled that five years ago, under the Russian BRICS Chairmanship, the heads of BRICS states set a course for interaction to counter infectious diseases. In particular, Russian science had achieved a lot in the field of virology and microbiology research.

“Our country has developed and registered two COVID-19 vaccines. The third vaccine will soon be registered. Joint actions of the BRICS states for the production of COVID −19 vaccines, including the Russian vaccine Sputnik V, demonstrate another vivid example of partnership, mutual assistance and support,” said the Chairman of the State Duma.

He also noted one of Russia's priorities — creation together with BRICS partners of a comprehensive early warning system to prevent epidemiological threats.

“We also support the South African initiative to establish a Vaccine Development and Research Center, that was announced in 2018,” said Viacheslav Volodin.

Upholding the principles of international law

Viacheslav Volodin called strengthening of strategic partnership of our countries in the interests of global stability, shared security and innovative growth a priority of Russia’s BRICS Chairmanship in 2020.

”We are all convinced that it is necessary to uphold the principles of international law enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, ‘ the Chairman of the State Duma said and stressed that attempts to build a unipolar world on the principle of the ‘power of force’, to question the central role of the United Nations in international affairs, in ensuring global stability and security, are unacceptable.

He urged the Forum participants to ensure equal cooperation between all states within the framework of the UN and other international institutions and organizations.

Dialogue in a multipolar world

“The world is becoming multipolar and that requires the maximum coordination of interests, including, equal parliamentary dialogue, so all opinions would be taken into account and respected,” stressed Viacheslav Volodin.

“We need to defend our common position at international parliamentary platforms. It is important to ensure fair and mutually beneficial conditions for participation of our countries in world trade system,” he emphasized.

“It would be right to pay special attention to the issue of exchange of legislative experience in the development of digital economy, artificial intelligence, and personal data protection,” said Viacheslav Volodin.

“Modern world needs a unifying agenda, protection of the principle of sovereign equality of states, the right of peoples to choose their own future, the formation of a more just and democratic world order. Parliamentary diplomacy should give an answer to this request, moreover, it should help to reduce confrontation and conflict potential and to address together new challenges and threats,” the Chairman of the State Duma stressed.

Cooperation in the field of health 

Viacheslav Volodin is convinced that it is necessary to create conditions for cooperation between the BRICS countries in the health areas, as well as do everything to increase efficiency of public administration systems to counter infectious diseases.

Overcoming the consequences

“The heads of our states set the task to work on joint measures to overcome the consequences of the pandemic. The updated BRICS Economic Partnership Strategy for the period up to 2025, which should be adopted by the end of the year, will be an important step in that direction,”said Viacheslav Volodin. The document will define guidelines and priorities of our cooperation and give a new impetus to development of trade and investment cooperation between the five countries..

“It is necessary to continue development of our inter-parliamentary dialogue and to find new formats of cooperation. We need to create a regular mechanism of parliamentary cooperation between the BRICS states, a form of parliamentary interaction which will be convenient for all five states,” stressed the Chairman of the State Duma.

The 6th BRICS Parliamentary Forum under the theme ”BRICS Partnership for Global Stability, Shared Security and Innovative Growth: parliamentary dimension“ was held via videoconference for the first time. The Forum was held under the Russian BRICS Chairmanship in 2020.