A meeting was held between the Federation Council Deputy Speaker and the President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire.
Federation Council Deputy Chair Ilyas Umakhanov met with President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Côte d`Ivoire Jeannot Ahoussou-Kouadio.
Vyacheslav Timchenko, Chair of the Federation Council Committee on the House Rules and Parliamentary
Governance, Mikhail Kozlov,
Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Defence and Security, and Alexei Kondratyev, member of the Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture, also took part
in the meeting.
Ilyas Umakhanov stressed that relations between the two countries had always been
friendly.
He noted that
the visit by the delegation of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire was taking place during the 2nd Development of Parliamentarism International Forum in Moscow, as well as the Russia-Africa
parliamentary conference, where Jeannot
Ahoussou-Kouadio would deliver an address.
“It is important that our countries’ positions on pressing international issues coincide or are very close. We hope that our practical cooperation relations will further develop during the Russia-Africa Summit in October 2019,” Ilyas Umakhanov said.
The Federation
Council Deputy Chair noted the growing role of parliaments in the world, as evidenced by the UN decision to institute, at Russia’s initiative, the International
Day of Parliamentarism. On 30 June 2019, it was marked for the second time.
According to Mr Umakhanov, one of the priorities of bilateral cooperation between Russia and Côte d’Ivoire is their joint work at the Inter-Parliamentary Union. “The Federation Council is ready to support the initiatives by MPs from the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire to promote cooperation.”
Jeannot Ahoussou-Kouadio expressed hope for an expanded cooperation between the senates of the two
countries. “Parliamentary dialogue is currently needed,” he said.
The sides
discussed prospects for drafting an agreement between the two senates, which would
create “mirror” friendship groups of parliamentarians.
They also addressed education cooperation and the expansion of quotas for students from Côte d’Ivoire to study at Russian universities. Ilyas Umakhanov said that the issue of introducing amendments to Russian legislation, which would allow foreign students to combine study with work, was being considered.