IPA CIS to Prepare Recommendations on Cross-Border Cooperation for Local Authorities

Representatives of the parliaments of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, experts and representatives of specialized agencies of the Commonwealth countries reviewed the progress of work on electoral documents and decided to prepare Recommendations to local authorities on the implementation of cross-border cooperation, Model Laws on Creative Industries and on the Status of Capitals, Cities of State Importance and Centers of Regions of the State.

On the proposal of Secretary General of the IPA CIS Council Dmitriy Kobitskiy, Chair of the Standing Commission of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus on State-Building, Local Government, and Regulations Valentin Semenyako was re-elected as the Chair of the IPA CIS Permanent Commission on Practices of State-Building and Local Government.

The rapporteurs noted that the recommendations would become the first reference document regulating measures to protect electoral sovereignty. The relevance of the document is due to the pressure from other countries and attempts of foreign interference.

Commission members noted the growing interest in remote electronic voting (REV). At the same time, it is necessary to work on these recommendations with special care - any wrong step would only complicate the procedure of this form of voting.

Another issue on the agenda of the meeting is the draft Recommendations on the organization of activities of local government aimed at supporting the population in pandemic conditions. Information was provided by member of the Commission, Deputy Chair of the Committee of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on the Rules of Procedure and Parliamentary Governance Alexander Savin, and Chair of the Expert Council of the All-Russian Union of Cities Alexandra Ignatieva.

They spoke about a special electronic matrix describing possible risks, solution mechanisms and incentives.

Alexander Savin and associate professor of the Department of Constitutional Law of the Law Faculty of St. Petersburg State University Anna Vasilieva spoke about the progress of work on the draft Recommendations on the Activities of Local Government to Ensure and Protect the Rights of Citizens in the Digital Environment.

Member of the Committee of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Oleg Tsepkin and Dean of the Law Faculty of the North-West Institute of Management of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration Sergey Sergeevnin presented to the participants of the meeting a new document - the concept of the Model law on the Status of Capitals, Cities of State Importance and Centers of Regions of the State.

The developers of the document propose to formulate provisions that establish the basis for recognizing and consolidating the legal status.

The members of the commission were presented with the Concept of the Model law on Creative Industries. According to the developers, the most popular areas of creative industries are media, design, advertising, fashion industry, folk and artistic crafts, decorative arts, tourism, educational projects. However, in most CIS countries the concepts of “creative cluster” and “creative park” have not been legislated.

The participants of the meeting discussed the use of model laws adopted by the IPA CIS on the initiative of the Commission in the legislative activity of the region.

On the results of the work of the Commission in 2023 told its secretary Elena Fominenko.

At the meeting it was also decided to resume the activities of the IPA CIS working group on the drafting the Dictionary of terms and concepts that are used in the preparation of legislative acts in the field of state building and local self-government.