Events

MINSK, 29 January (BelTA) – Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) place a lot of hope on cooperation with the Belarusian parliament, head of the delegation of the National Assembly of Belarus for contacts with PACE, member of Belarus’ House of Representatives Nikolai Samoseiko told journalists on 29 January, BelTA has learned.

“I would describe the attitude of PACE representatives as cautious optimism since they place a lot of hope on further cooperation with the Belarusian parliament. I would like to cite Andrea Rigoni (PACE rapporteur on Belarus – BelTA’s note) who said that we are starting to look in the same direction, find new points of contact, and not only on some major issues that are high on our cooperation agenda, but also on some other less pressing matters,” the MP said.

As an example of such cooperation he cited fighting against human trafficking, amendments to election legislation, combating corruption and drug trafficking. Besides, migration legislation is a burning issue in Europe.

On 28 January, Nikolai Samoseiko attended a meeting of the PACE Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy in Strasbourg, France. He held bilateral meetings with PACE members, MPs of other countries, and officials from the Council of Europe and the PACE Secretariat.

Nikolai Samoseiko noted that the matter of restoration of Belarus’ special guest status in PACE was touched upon during all the meetings he attended. “The status would give Belarus, first of all, a right to take part in all European meetings and express its opinion, its position on all issues,” the MP explained.