The State Duma signed Memorandum of Understanding with the Arab Parliament
The document was signed by Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin and Speaker of the Arab Parliament Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Yamahi
On Thursday,
February 6, the Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin
Vyacheslav Victorovich
The Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the eighth convocation. Elected in single mandate constituency № 163 (Saratov constituency - Saratov Oblast)
held a meeting
with the Speaker of the Arab Parliament Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Yamahi at the State Duma. They signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Federal
Assembly of the Russian Federation and the Arab Parliament.
Speaking about cooperation between Russia and Arab countries, Vyacheslav Volodin noted that “for us, this is one of the priorities of our foreign policy.” These relations are invariably built on the principles of mutual respect, non-interference in internal affairs and the absence of double standards, according to the Chairman of the State Duma.
According to him, European inter-parliamentary structures, such as PACE, have discredited themselves. “An organization was created, but it started to impose alien values on its member states, ignore other opinions, and we consider that unacceptable. A parliamentary structure is a place for discussions on an equal basis,” emphasized Vyacheslav Volodin.
“When we speak about cooperation with inter-parliamentary structures, they should provide an opportunity to effectively defend the interests of states, to express not only one side’s position, but also to influence decision-making process. The current inter-parliamentary structures in European countries do not have these opportunities,” said the Chairman of the State Duma.
Vyacheslav Volodin emphasized that “we attach great importance to the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Federal Assembly of our country and the Arab Parliament.” According to him, there is a great opportunity for open dialogue on such platforms. “We build relations not only with the national parliaments of Arab countries, but also with inter-parliamentary structures,” he added and noted the effectiveness of that work.
Vyacheslav Volodin also invited Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Yamahi and his colleagues to take part in the International Conference “Development of Parliamentarism”, which will be held this summer in Moscow. He suggested holding a separate discussion on the development of cooperation with Arab countries. The Speaker of the Arab Parliament accepted the invitation.
“I would like to express our support for the initiative of the President of the Russian Federation to hold the first Arab-Russian summit with the participation of the leaders of Arab states. We are convinced that the implementation of this initiative will contribute to further strengthening of Russian-Arab relations and will help reach a new level of cooperation. The support of the Russian Federation for Arab approaches to addressing various international and regional issues is one of the factors that make cooperation between Russia and the Arab states stronger,” said Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Yamahi at the meeting.
“We also support Russia in terms of protecting its national interests and security,” he added.
The issues of exchanging legislative experience within the framework of regional interstate organizations were also discussed at the meeting.
