Sergey Antufiev on a working visit in Belarus

Yesterday Acting Secretary General of the IPA CIS Council Secretariat met with the speakers of both chambers of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, as well as with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus.

During the meeting Speaker of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus Mikhail Myasnikovich recalled that the activity of the IPA CIS had been discussed in September 2017 at the meeting of the Council of the CIS Heads of State. “President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko provided constructive criticism. He gave proposals about the improvement of the work of the Assembly as a key organization of the parliamentary dimension across the CIS,” said the Speaker of the upper chamber of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus. After that the IPA CIS hosted its session in St. Petersburg which discussed concrete proposals to change the work order of the organization.

Mikhail Myasnikovich drew the attention of the IPS CIS representatives to the two groups of priorities. The first of them is the harmonization of legislation. “If we consider the work in the framework of the CIS, we should seek to harmonize both existing and new laws. In this connection, the IPA CIS plays a crucial role in drafting model laws in different areas,” he said. The second group of questions is related to the election monitoring. “Reports prepared by the Secretariat and the IPA CIS at large on the monitoring of the preparation and holding elections in the countries of the Commonwealth are very substantive,” added Mikhail Myasnikovich. Such an expert evaluation is instrumental in understanding the gaps of the national legislation and law enforcement practice.

Speaker of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus underlined that Belarus would thoroughly facilitate the work of the IPA CIS Council Secretariat.

Summarizing the meeting, Acting Secretary General of the Council of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS Member Nations said that the IPA CIS was going to adopt new practices. He noted that many smart documents had been adopted but the follow-up of their implementation was still inadequate. “The President of Belarus suggested the IPA CIS should undertake this type of control by inviting the individuals responsible for the implementation of a particular program,” said Acting Secretary General.

The meeting discussed challenges to be addressed in 2018. “This year three major political campaigns will take place across the CIS: the presidential elections in the Russian Federation and in the Republic of Azerbaijan and the parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova. We discussed the participation of the MPs of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus in the international monitoring of those important political campaigns,” added Sergey Antufiev.

Speaker of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus Vladimir Andreichenko called on the IPA CIS not to limit itself to the role of the platform for dialogue, but also to take concrete decisions aimed at better living standards of our peoples. “The Interparliamentary Assembly must find forward-looking areas of work taking into account the development of digital and information technologies, energy and investment. This is what is actually needed across the CIS,” added Vladimir Andreichenko.

According to the Speaker of the lower chamber, the IIMDD IPA CIS could play a more active role in the analysis of national legislation, in particularly, electoral laws. This institution could play the same role as the Venice Commission and the ODIHR OSCE.

International cooperation is keeping its momentum. There is a need to enhance the alignment of efforts in order to better represent the interests of the Commonwealth in general and of each individual Member Nation.

The agenda of the meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Vladimir Makei included relevant issues of the CIS integration development and individual efforts concerning the adaptation of the CIS to current realities.

The participants of the meeting confirmed the value of the parliamentary dimension of the integration, discussed the goals related to the implementation of the decision taken by the Council of the CIS Heads of State in October 2017 in Sochi on the improvement of the functioning of the Interparliamentary Assembly.