The Federation Council Speaker addressed the plenary meeting of the Russia-Latin America international parliamentary conference.
Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko addressed the plenary meeting of the Russia-Latin America international parliamentary conference that focused on cooperation for a just world for all.
The Federation Council Speaker noted the mutual interest of Russia and the Latin American states in expanding diverse mutually beneficial ties. “The creation of a just and polycentric world order is now accelerating. Latin America, which boasts great potential, high population growth and economic recovery rates, is becoming one of the centres of the new world that is based on equality and mutual respect,” Valentina Matvienko said.
According to Valentina Matvienko, this approach differs drastically from the policy of a small group of countries that have become accustomed to calling themselves the “golden billion,” and that strive to rebuild their old-time privileged status as colonial powers.
The Federation Council Speaker believes that parliaments are playing an increasingly greater role in the emerging new model of mutual relations. “Our teamwork, the joint search for answers to various challenges and a striving to formulate a constructive and positive agenda aimed at people’s well-being, socioeconomic development and support for inclusiveness will guarantee success.”
Valentina Matvienko recalled that Russia’s relations with the Latin American and Caribbean countries had solid and deep roots, and that they had always been marked by stability, trust and benevolence. “It is important that we expand both bilateral and multilateral ties, including within the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly and the Central American Parliament,” she said. Contacts between the Eurasian Economic Union and Latin American integration associations, including the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), the Andean Community and the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System, are promising, she added.
“The Federation Council and the parliaments of seven Latin American states have signed cooperation agreements. We strive to do everything possible to facilitate cooperation between Russia and Latin America for the benefit of our nations,” Valentina Matvienko said.
Speaking about interregional cooperation, the Federation Council Speaker said that many Russian regions had partners in Latin American regions. “The Federation Council will continue to support this collaboration format. We are committed to strengthening humanitarian contacts in culture, science and education. We will promote personnel training and an increase in the number of Russian state grants for Latin American students.”
According to Valentina Matvienko, much is being done to promote the women’s agenda. Women from the Latin American and Caribbean countries are involved in the Eurasian Women’s Forum, held under the auspices of the Federation Council. The Federation Council Speaker invited everyone to take part in the 4th Eurasian Women’s Forum in September 2024 in St Petersburg.
Valentina Matvienko focused on the need to discuss in detail steps for advancing trade and economic ties. “Russia is exporting more agricultural products, especially wheat, equipment and petroleum products to the Latin American and Caribbean states. Russia is an important supplier of mineral fertilisers and makes a significant contribution to the food security of many countries in the region.”
Russia and the Latin American and Caribbean countries remain responsible partners and loyal friends, despite the sanctions pressure felt by certain Latin American states, the Federation Council Speaker added.
“We emphatically oppose any unilateral restrictions that are biased and illegitimate, and that violate international law and international trade regulations,” Valentina Matvienko said. She suggested pooling efforts at international parliamentary platforms for combating this lawlessness. According to the Federation Council Speaker, it is time for the international community to state firmly at the UN and other platforms that unilateral sanctions are unacceptable. They should denounce and ban them because sanctions essentially target ordinary people, rather than regimes and states.
At the same time, Russian MPs are calling for strengthening the potential of the Global South, so that its voice in global affairs can be heard more loudly and strongly.
In his remarks, State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin said that the parliamentary dimension would become an additional driving force of relations between Russia and Latin America. “We are building our relations on the principles of friendship, mutual respect, non-interference in the affairs of sovereign states and, of course, mutually beneficial cooperation,” he added.
According to the State Duma Speaker, the Russia-Latin America conference made it possible to invigorate interparliamentary contacts. “We have concluded that the parliamentary dimension needs new forms of cooperation, all the more so as they produce good results,” Vyacheslav Volodin said.
President of the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN) Amado Cerrud Acevedo, President of the National Assembly of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Jorge Jesus Rodriguez Gomez, President of the National Congress of the Republic of Honduras Luis Rolando Redondo Guifarro, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Cuba Juan Esteban Lazo Hernandez, Republic of Nicaragua Presidential Envoy for Russian Affairs Laureano Facundo Ortega Murillo, and First Vice President of the Federal Senate of the National Congress of the Federative Republic of Brazil Veneziano Vital do Rêgo Segundo Neto addressed the meeting.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sent a video address to conference participants.
Other conference participants included Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Grigory Karasin, Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Andrey Klishas, Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Federal Structure, Regional Policy, Local Government and Northern Affairs Andrei Shevchenko, and Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy Yury Fedorov.
Moscow hosted the Russia-Latin America international parliamentary conference from 29 September through 2 October. The programme included roundtable discussions on topical issues of developing relations between Russia and the Latin American countries. First Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on the Budget and Financial Markets Sergey Ryabukhin, took part in a discussion on equitable and mutually beneficial cooperation and the role of parliaments.
First Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Sergei Kislyak and Dina Oyun, member of the Federation Council Committee on the Budget and Financial Markets, took part in a roundtable discussion Security for All: Position of the Parliaments.
In addition, Sergei Kislyak took part in discussing the issue of a just multipolar world and the role of parliamentary diplomacy.