“Allow me to congratulate the Council of Europe on solving the problem, how to return the Russian delegation to PACE,” said the Honorary President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Chairman of the Finnish Parliament’s Defense Committee Ilkka Kanerva.
He stressed that this is ”a very important signal for today, it is a signal for all of us as [it is necessary] to move on.“
Ilkka Kanerva noted that “parliamentarians can and should play a crucial role” in solving global problems.
He was supported by President of PACE in 2005–2008 René van der Linden who complained that national parliaments often “look too much inside their country.”
“It is important that we develop an international perspective and convince everyone that the future of each country depends on what happens in other countries. In one country some processes take place but we see their consequences in other countries. It’s extremely important to work together,” said René van der Linden.
Challenges cannot be overcome alone
Vasilii
Piskarev
Vasily Ivanovich
, Chairman of the Committee on Security and Corruption Control,
emphasized that all the presenters spoke about the need to unite security
efforts.
“This is not only countering terrorism, although this is a key problem today, and a decision has been made to create a single list of terrorist organizations, but also new threats related to security in cyberspace, impact on young people, their involvement in criminal activities, and advertising of drugs. These are problems of illegal migration, drug trafficking, cross-border crime. We need to unite, form model laws and unify legislation,” he said.
Vasilii Piskarev also noted that interest in joint work with Russia among parliamentarians from different countries is growing: “We have good contact with Iran, Turkey, China, now we have been approached by representatives of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria with a proposal to unite the efforts. We are open, our Security Committee is actively engaged in international activities, and the number of people willing to work together is increasing.”
The 2nd International Forum ”Development of Parliamentarism“ is held on the initiative of the State Duma on July 1–3. This year, representatives of 132 states have come to the Forum. About 800 experts and parliamentarians, including 14 international parliamentary organizations, as well as 41 speakers representing the national parliaments take part in the events. The Forum will host the Russia-Africa parliamentary conference.
