IPA CIS receives the status of associated membership at the IPU

Today in the morning, as part of the 134th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Lusaka (Zambia), the IPU Governing Council supported the recommendation of its Governing Council to accord the status of associated membership to the IPA CIS.

The IPA CIS became the 11th associated member of the IPU, a major and respected global interparliamentary body, together with the PA CE, Latin American Parliament, Central American Parliament, European Parliament and others.

The associated members enjoy the same roles and responsibilities as the IPU members, except for the right to vote and run for elected positions. Representatives of the associated member may speak at general debates and facilitate drafting of resolutions. Two members of each associated member may attend meetings of the Governing Council.

On the announcement of the decision, Vice-Speaker of the Federation Council Ilyas Umakhanov took the floor to express gratitude to the members of the Governing Council for their support of the IPA CIS Council's request to obtain this new capacity at the IPU. He noted that "the decision taken here, in Lusaka, is of special importance to us. We are confident that it will be a new milestone of our cooperation with the IPU and build the momentum both for better information exchange, sharing of expertise and best practices, and organizing joint events and projects".