Belarusian parliament speaker: Cooperation with the West remains on the agenda
Vladimir Andreichenko. An archive photo
MINSK, 13 September (BelTA) — Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Vladimir Andreichenko spoke about interaction with Western MPs in an interview to Belarus 1 TV Channel, BelTA has learned.
“As for the West, we do not take this issue off the agenda. Yes, today’s official relations are not what they used to be. Although we are members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and take part in its work. The same is true about the Parliamentary Assembly of the Central European Initiative, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. Today, however, we work more on interpersonal contacts with MEPs. A member of the Bundestag from the Alternative for Germany parliamentary faction has paid a visit to Belarus. We have close contacts with MPs from Italy and some other countries. We are working in this direction,” Vladimir Andreichenko said.
In his words, Belarus is currently more focused on the work with the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, the Latin American Parliament, and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. “The authority of the National Assembly of Belarus is high in these organizations. For example, our MPs are members of three committees of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Thanks to the active work of our MPs and our colleagues from other parliaments, who support us, we managed to prevent the adoption of anti-Belarusian resolutions at the 143rd, 144th, 145th assemblies of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. We solve not only political but also trade and economic issues there,” the chairman of the House of Representatives emphasized.
Belarus has been actively developing relations with the Pan-African Parliament. “Quite recently I have held an online meeting with the chairperson of this Parliament. We have a task to get an observer status in this parliament in the near future. I think it is important, as there is a great scope for economic cooperation there for us,” Vladimir Andreichenko said.
