Events

MINSK, 6 October (BelTA) – More than 700 politicians from 57 countries will gather for the 26th session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to be held in Minsk in 2017, Chairman of the House of Representatives of Belarus’ National Assembly Vladimir Andreichenko said at the close of the tenth session of the fifth-convocation parliament, BelTA has learned.

“Minsk will play host to the 26th session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly next year. This shows that international standing of the National Assembly and the country in general is improving. For the first time the Belarusian capital will host more than 700 politicians from 57 countries from around the world,” the Speaker noted.

In his view, the members of the fifth-convocation parliament did a good job in terms of international cooperation. The House of Representatives held more than 200 international meetings, hosted more than 30 parliamentary delegations. The geography of the contacts covers more than 50 countries around the world. Ten more agreements have become part of the legal framework of the inter-parliamentary cooperation.

“A clear priority for us was to strengthen the integration in the post-Soviet space. Given the advantages of integration, we made an extensive use of the parliamentary assemblies of the Union State, the CIS and CSTO to bolster mutually beneficial cooperation,” the Chairman of the House of Representatives said.

“At the same time, we actively sought allies among far away countries. We have developed a strategic partnership with China's Parliament. We have strong, trusting relationships with our colleagues from Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand. This was greatly facilitated by the fact that in 2011, the National Assembly was granted an observer status in the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly. A coherent, targeted work of the members of the fifth-convocation parliament allowed us to obtain a similar status in the Latin American Parliament,” Vladimir Andreichenko said.

In general, according to him, a lot has been done by the previous parliament to ensure macroeconomic stability, strengthen the financial and banking systems. “The MPs played a big role in the development of the legal framework of the Eurasian Economic Union. They did their best to protect domestic producers and promote national interests in the Eurasian market,” the Speaker noted.

Among other important outcomes, the Speaker outlined the new military doctrine, which has come into force already. He also praised the results of the important work regarding the codification of the Belarusian legislation.

“Despite the tough approaches to the fiscal policy, social protection has always been at the center of attention of the MPs. State support guarantees for the most vulnerable groups of people have been reinforced. The legislation in health, physical culture and sports has been updated. The MPs further improved the youth and family policies, demographic security policy,” the Speaker said.