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Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the European Union

Submitted on 2011-09-25 22:00:00

14th Session of the Russia-EU Parliamentary Cooperation Committee

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The Russia-EU Parliamentary Cooperation Committee held its 14th session on 19-20 September 2011 in Warsaw. A representative delegation of members of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation headed by Mr. Andrey Klimov, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for International Affairs of the State Duma, participated in the event.

On the margins of the meeting its participants exchanged views with Messrs. Vladimir Sedykh and Marek Calka, members of the Group on Difficult Issues of the history of Russian and Polish relations.

Discussions at the session co-chaired by Mr. Andrey Klimov and Mr. Knut Fleckenstein (political group “Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats”, European Parliament) covered prospects of abolition of visas for Russian and EU citizens, as well as implementation of the Russian-Polish initiative on local border traffic in the Kaliningrad region and comparable neighbouring regions of Poland; parliamentary election standards in the EU and Russia. Results of parliamentary contacts in 2011 were summed up, including three meetings of PCC Working Groups: on EU-Russia regional cooperation and relations with neighbouring countries (22-23 March, Brussels), on science and research cooperation, rural development, environmental protection (27-28 April, Astrakhan), and on sports, sports infrastructure and youth policies (17-18 May, Sochi).

The participants of the meeting called on all EU Member States to support the proposal of the European Commission to amend the EU Regulation on local border traffic, expressed the hope for acceleration of Russia-EU visa dialogue.

During a discussion with Mr. Siyabshakh Shapiev, Member of the Central Election Commission of Russia, and Dr. Beata Martin-Rozumilovicz, Head of Election Department of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Russian side stressed the necessity of approval within the framework of OSCE collective organs of common standards of election monitoring by ODIHR, ensuring transparency and accountability of the Offices's activities.

Ambassador Vladimir Chizhov, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the EU, addressed the meeting, giving a positive assessment of PCC activities in 2011.

Alexandr Alexeev, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Poland, and Nikolay Tsukanov, Governor of the Kaliningrad region, took part in the meeting.

A Final Statement was adopted as a result of the Committee session.