Opinions & Interviews

Call for Belarus, Russia to prompt harmonization of legislations

MINSK, 8 August (BelTA) – The work on harmonizing the legislations of Belarus and Russia needs to be intensified, Chairman of the Council of the Republic Mikhail Myasnikovich said as he met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Belarus Dmitry Mezentsev on 8 August, BelTA learned from the press service of the Council of the Republic.
 
The parties discussed issues of bilateral cooperation, with the focus made on the results of the 6th Forum of Regions of Belarus and Russia that took place in St Petersburg in July.

Interregional cooperation plays a big role in strengthening Belarusian-Russian relations. “The Forum of Regions is the so-called pinnacle of daily scrupulous and not always visible work. Governors and ministers meet regularly to discuss matters that need solution. We always respond to any proposals of the Russian regions to improve the situation on this or that issue,” said Mikhail Myasnikovich.

The chairman of the Council of the Republic emphasized the importance of harmonizing the national legislations of the two countries within the framework of the Union State. He added that the draft plan of action for the implementation of the provisions of the Union State Treaty is almost ready. “The treaty is the areas of cooperation. I believe the document should stay. The question is: how can we identify the goals to strengthen our integration, how can we concretize them? The plan of action is developed for this purpose. We need to think very seriously about the harmonization of the legislations,” he said.

In this respect, it is necessary to accelerate the work on the concept to approximate the legislations of the two states.

Dmitry Mezentsev agreed that without the approximation of the legislations it will be difficult to make further progress in integration. The ambassador hailed the level of the 6th Forum of Regions of Belarus and Russia and its results. “This is truly a serious contribution to strengthening bilateral relations,” he stressed. Dmitry Mezentsev suggested discussing further steps of cooperation between the upper chambers of the parliaments and ways to expand this activity. “Here, we are talking about building up relations at the level of regional parliaments. I believe this will contribute to the common cause taking into account the need to intensify the integration agenda,” he said.

The ambassador suggested intensifying cooperation between commissions and committees of the upper chambers of the parliaments. This will add impetus to the Forum’s institute, he stressed.

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