Address by Chairperson of the IPA CIS Council Valentina Matvienko to the participants of the Conference on the International Day of Democracy

I welcome the participants of the Conference dedicated to the International Day of Democracy.

There is no doubt in the value and non-alternativity of democracy as a system that fully ensures basic human rights and freedoms in the XXI century. For true democratic values to be embodied in all countries, they must be thoroughly analyzed, and we need to openly exchange national experience.

Democracy is a universal value based on free will of the people, who independently determine their political, economic, social and cultural development, but due to its diverse nature democracy cannot be the property of single countries or individual world regions.

Staying united in diversity is the key challenge at the current stage of democratic development. That is why the draft resolution of the 137^th IPU Assembly, which is to begin its work in October 2017 in the Tavricheskiy Palace, developed with the active participation of the Russian delegation, is entitled “Sharing our diversity: the 20th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Democracy”.

In 2017, the International Day of Democracy will have the slogan “Democracy and Conflict Prevention”. I am sure that the high professionalism, adherence to principles and experience of the participants of the conference will contribute to the elaboration of important proposals for further development of democracy.

I wish you fruitful work, interesting discussions and the best impressions from your stay in St. Petersburg!