Participants of the 6th BRICS Parliamentary Forum discussed partnership for global stability
The Forum was held under the Russian BRICS Chairmanship in 2020.The meeting was held via videoconference for the first time
On October 27, the Sixth BRICS Parliamentary Forum was held via videoconference under the theme ”BRICS Partnership for Global Stability, Shared Security and Innovative Growth: parliamentary dimension“.
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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)
read out the text of the greetings of Russian President
Vladimir Putin to participants, organisers and guests of the Forum.
Viacheslav Volodin in his speech emphasized the need to mechanism a mechanism of parliamentary cooperation between BRICS countries.
“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,” he said. The Chairman of the State Duma also urged the BRICS parliamentarians to resist political confrontation in the fight against the pandemic.
Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko called BRICS cooperation “a vivid example of solidarity, mutual assistance and constructive dialogue”. “Our countries have a really great potential that we can oppose any manifestation of national egoism. In particular, the Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership for the period up to 2025 is almost ready. The Draft BRICS Counter-Terrorism Strategy was agreed. The principled collaborative position of the heads of five states is also important in strengthening international cooperation”, she said.
The chairpersons and members of the parliaments of the BRICS countries addressed the Forum participants: Speaker of the House of the People of the Parliament of the Republic of India Om Birla, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People Congress of the People’s Republic of China Li Zhanshu, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of South Africa Thandi Modise, Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces of Parliament of the Republic of South Africa Amos Masondo, Vice-President of the Commission for Foreign Relations and National Defense of the Federal Senate of the National Congress of the Federative Republic of Brazil Marcos Do Val and Chairman of the Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers of the House of the People of the Parliament of India Kanimozhi Karunanidhi.
In their speeches, the parliamentarians paid attention to the problem of countering the COVID-19 and the challenges and threats that each state is facing now, and development and strengthening of cooperation, including at the inter-parliamentary level.
Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People Congress of the People’s Republic of China Li Zhanshu made several recommendations on economic recovery and countering COVID-19.
“China has done everything to counter the virus. We had mobilized all the resources to develop a strategy to counter COVID-19. We now can say that the Chinese economy is reaching a plateau and recovering. We see a modest GDP growth for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic,” said the parliamentarian. “China in the shortest possible time provided WHO with all information about the coronavirus and allocated $ 50 million to develop measures to overcome COVID-19. Beijing also gave $ 2 billion to developing countries to improve their health systems,” Li Zhanshu added.
According to him, the BRICS parliamentarians should take responsibility and stabilize the economies of their countries to accelerate the recovery of the global economy.
“I have several proposals for this. First, we should enhance increase health cooperation. It is also necessary to develop a legal system to counter the virus. Secondly, we should strengthen cooperation to counter coronavirus infection together, as well as to exchange information and current experience, and to work on the development of new vaccines. Thirdly, it is necessary to provide support to WHO and WTO to promote trade and mutual investment,” he said.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is a serious test for all of us, but it is also a test of our strength. The pandemic has opened up many new opportunities, we should take advantage of the situation,” said Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of South Africa Thandi Modise.
“All the necessary measures were taken to mitigate the impact of the pandemic in South Africa. But the economy of our country has been seriously affected. We would like to thank the BRICS states that provided assistance to South Africa during the pandemic. The pandemic helped us to build closer relations with Russia and China, as well as with India,” she said.
At the end of the meeting, Viacheslav Volodin said: “The proposal of our colleagues to continue development of the parliamentary cooperation is interesting. Let's think together on this proposal and concretize it. At the end of our meeting, a statement of the chairperson of the Forum will be issued and it will contain the main issues of our discussions, your proposals, and thus will lay the foundation for further work within the BRICS parliamentary dimension.“
