MINSK, 2 October (BelTA) – A session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Central European Initiative (CEI) will take place in Minsk on 28 November. The information was released by Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Mikhail Myasnikovich as the autumn session of the upper chamber of the Belarusian parliament opened on 2 October, BelTA has learned.
Heads of the parliaments of 18 CEI member states are expected to take part in the session. Mikhail Myasnikovich also reminded about the important international events Belarus has hosted this year — a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee of the CEI Parliamentary Dimension on 30 May and the 26th session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on 5-9 July.
The main slogan of Belarus’ presidency in CEI — the Council of the Republic is in charge of these matters — is "Intellectualization of the economy in the CEI region: Innovative production, management and human capital”. Mikhail Myasnikovich noted that the slogan had been chosen due to trends in the modern economy — smart technologies, growing science content in products, a massive increase in the production, transfer, storage, and usage of knowledge, and tough competition, which requires constant innovations. “In essence these are global challenges, a timely response to which is a vital condition for preserving the competitive ability of the economies of the entire world,” noted Mikhail Myasnikovich. These key matters will be discussed during the session of the CEI Parliamentary Assembly in November.
Apart from that, there are plans to arrange a regional forum of coordinators for accomplishing the UN Sustainable Development Goals in Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS states. The relevant work is already in progress, noted Mikhail Myasnikovich.