PACE PRESIDENT CALLS FOR A NEW IMPETUS FOR A EUROPE-RUSSIA PARTNERSHIP
Lragir.am
26.04.2006
Strasbourg
On the eve of a visit to St Petersburg, the President of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Rene van
der Linden, today called for a new impetus for a partnership between
Russia and the rest of Europe.
“When I became President of the Assembly in January 2005, I stressed
the importance of ensuring constructive and friendly relations
with Russia. Now is the time to give this an extra impetus. We
must strengthen mutual trust and confidence, cooperate on an equal
footing as the key to success, build on stability and durability,
shoulder our responsibilities in solving conflicts and consolidate
peace. A partnership is therefore absolutely vital”, Rene van der
Linden said today.
On 27 April, he will take part in a special session of the State Duma
of the Russian Federation to celebrate its first centenary. On this
occasion, the President will hold a series of bilateral meetings in
particular with the President of the State Duma, Boris Gryzlov, the
President of the Council of the Federation, Sergey Mironov, as well as
with the Speakers of the Parliaments of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia
and Moldova. The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin,
will also attend this special session which will take place in the
Tavrichesky Palace, where the first State Duma sat from 1906 to 1917.
The next day, 28 April, the PACE President will be co-chairing the
“International Conference on European Parliamentarianism: Past and
Present”, to be jointly organised by PACE, the CIS Interparliamentary
Assembly and the State Duma. One of the topics to be discussed at
the conference is “international standards for democratic elections”.
This will be the fourth time the President of the Assembly has visited
Russia since his election in January 2005. The visit is taking place
just before Russia takes over the Chair of the Committee of Ministers
of the Council of Europe, on 19 May 2006.
Parliamentary Assembly Communication Unit.