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Alexander Romanovich spoke at the Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Lusaka 21 марта 2016 Alexander Romanovich, deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs spoke at the 134th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) held in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, 19-23 March 2016. A delegation of the RF Federation Council that attended the Assembly represented the Russian parliament and comprised its head Ilyas Umakhanov, deputy Chairman of the Federation Council; Konstantin Kosachev, Chairman of the FC Foreign Affairs Committee; Liliya Gumerova, first deputy Chairperson of the FC Committee on Science, Education and Culture; Andrey Klimov, deputy Chairman of the FC Foreign Affairs Committee; Valentina Petrenko, a member of the FC Committee on Social Policy and Alexander Romanovich a State Duma deputy who was the only delegation member representing the State Duma. In his speech at the Assembly Plenary Session, Alexander Romanovich emphasized a high level of arrangement of the forum and thanked the Governing Council of the Inter-parliamentary Union for a unanimous decision to raise the status of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (which was an observer) and grant it the IPU associate membership, i.e. the highest according to the IPU Charter. The Russian deputy’s speech about the structure, tasks and activities of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly was heard with deep attention and interest. Mr. Romanovich also told the participants about the rich experience of work of the IPA CIS Youth Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, especially that the youth problematics was among the main themes of the current IPU Assembly – " How to rejuvenate democracy and give voice to youth." As a representative of Party A JUST RUSSIA which is a full member of the IS, Alexander Romanovich was invited beforehand to the meeting of the Socialist International that was specially scheduled with the Assembly and held within its framework. The deputy took part in exchange of opinions in relation to the IPU agenda and the other topical international issues. There was also held a separate meeting between Alexander Romanovich and Luis Ayala, Secretary General of the Socialist International. Taking into account long-standing and strong links of Party A JUST RUSSIA with the Communist Party of China, Alexander Romanovich discussed the issues of bilateral cooperation during his meeting with Zhang Dejiang, the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the China’s National People’s Congress. One thousand three hundred delegates participated in the IPU current session; six hundred fifty of them were parliamentarians, including eighty-two speakers and a Vice-Speaker. In particular, China, India, Germany and the other partners important for Russia were represented at the level of top public officials. One issue which is very significant for Russia has already been solved at the Assembly in Lusaka. The Governing Council of Inter-Parliamentary Union made a unanimous decision to raise the status of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly and grant it the associate membership. There was also reached an agreement about the visit of Saber Chowdhury, the IPU President, to the nearest meeting of IPU CIS which is to take place in Saint Petersburg 19-21 May this year. IPU is an informal parliamentary segment of the UN. It is the oldest international organization that was established in 1889. Currently it unites parliamentarians from one hundred seventy countries. Eleven inter-parliamentary unions, including the European Parliament, PACE and now IPU CIS are its associate members.
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