IPA CIS Council Chairperson calls on European parliamentary bodies to join a collective effort

The IPA CIS Council held its session in the Tavricheskiy Palace – the headquarters of the IPA CIS.

Heads of international partner organizations arrived in St. Petersburg to join the IPA CIS Spring Session. The guest list included President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union saber Chowdhury, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Pedro Agramunt, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Ilkka Kanerva, Chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.

IPA CIS Council Chairperson, Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation opened the session. She suggested European parliamentarians should revive the tradition of holding joint conferences and emphasized that the interaction of international parliamentary organizations was getting increasingly relevant these days.

Valentina Matvienko noted that the IPA CIS activities are based on its international legal capacity and competence, which allows for developing cooperation with other international organizations. The IPA CIS has formal agreements with more than 40 international organizations, the majority of which are parliamentary bodies.

Valentina Matvienko mentioned several areas of the international cooperation of the IPA CIS with its international partners. Inter alia, she referred to joint sessions (like for example with the Bureau of PA CE and Bureau of PA OSCE), hosting joint conferences and workshops, and interaction during election monitoring.

During the session the participants focused on the outcomes of 2015, action plan for 2016 and considered a wide range of relevant issues.