IPU Assembly events took place in the Republic of Angola on 23–27 October.
Head of the Russian parliamentary delegation Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Inna Svyatenko held a number of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the 147th IPU Assembly.
During a conversation with Speaker of the House of Federation of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Agegnehu Teshager, she emphasised that relations between the two countries were based on traditions of friendship, mutual respect and trust. “This year, we are celebrating the 125th anniversary of our diplomatic relations. We welcome Ethiopia’s accession to BRICS, which was announced following the 15th BRICS summit in Johannesburg on 22–24 August of this year. We know that Ethiopia strives to play an active role in the work of the association, and we confirm our shared desire to develop close cooperation with our Ethiopian partners in all areas of BRICS activities,” the senator noted.
Speaking about the progress of Russia-Ethiopia inter-parliamentary interaction, Inna Svyatenko announced the formation of the Russian part of the group on cooperation between the upper houses of parliament of the two countries, headed by member of the Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Nikolay Vladimirov. The senator urged her colleagues to step up the work of friendship groups.
The Deputy Speaker also suggested drafting a roadmap for bilateral interaction at multilateral venues, primarily the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and jointly analysing opportunities for expanding ties between the Federation Council and the Pan-African Parliament (PAP).
At the meeting with Sylvia Lucas, Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces in the Parliament of South Africa, Inna Svyatenko congratulated her colleagues on the success of the BRICS Parliamentary Forum. ”The forum once again served as a clear example of parliamentary unity, mutual support and free, multilateral dialogue.“
Inna Svyatenko said that during Russia’s chairmanship in 2024, BRICS would continue promoting inter-parliamentary cooperation and dialogue on combatting terrorism, corruption and transnational crime, with a focus on improving quality of life, developing the digital economy and ensuring energy and food security.
The parliamentarians also discussed Russia-South Africa cooperation in education, ”In the 2022/23 academic year, 359 citizens of the Republic of South Africa studied at Russian universities under bachelor's, specialist and master's degree programmes, 28 of them under the Russian Government quota. This year, 95 quota places have already been allocated,“ Inna Svyatenko said.
The meeting was attended by Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Grigory Karasin and State Duma Deputy Speaker Petr Tolstoy.