Russia wants to make parliamentary conferences with Latin America regular

The first interparliamentary conference “Russia – Latin America”, which took four days, ended in Moscow on October 2. It was attended by about 300 representatives of parliaments and experts from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela, Haiti, Guatemala, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, El Salvador, Uruguay, Chile and Ecuador. This was stated at a plenary meeting on October 2 by State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin.

According to Volodin, cooperation at the parliamentary level is important not only for Russia’s relations with Latin American countries, but also for jointly “overcoming sanctions, building a multipolar world, a fair world order.” Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko called on Latin American parliamentarians to unite “our efforts at international parliamentary platforms in the fight against this lawlessness.” “I propose to make the international conference an annual event, we invite you to visit Moscow next year to discuss the development of our relations, building a multipolar world and a fair world order,” Volodin said.

Among the key participants of the event were several chairmen of parliaments and high-ranking officials of five Latin American countries. These are the Chairman of the National Assembly of Venezuela Jorge Jesus Rodriguez Gomez, the President of the National Congress of Honduras Luis Rolando Redondo Geffaro, the President of the National Assembly of People’s Power and the Council of State of Cuba Juan Esteban Lazo Hernandez, the special representative of the President of Nicaragua for the development of relations with Russia Laureano Facundo Ortega Murillo. Also taking part in the event was the Deputy Chairman of the Federal Senate of the National Congress (Parliament) of the largest country on the continent – Brazil – Venesiano Vital Do Rego Segundo Neto. In addition, among the conference participants in Moscow was the Chairman of the Central American Parliament, Amado Cerrud Acevedo (the organization includes representatives of the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and El Salvador).

In addition to them, Volodin announced the participation of representatives of the Latin American Parliament (including representatives of South and Central America, as well as the Caribbean), the Andean Parliament (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru), as well as the Mercosur Parliament (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela) . The conference was also attended by members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia.

On the first day of the conference, September 29, Volodin and First Deputy Chairman of the Brazilian Senate Do Rego discussed interaction between Russia and Brazil within the BRICS framework. The speaker of the State Duma invited the Brazilian delegation to take part in the parliamentary forum of the organization, which is planned to be held in Russia as part of its chairmanship in the association in 2024. The next day, September 30, Volodin met with the speaker of the parliament of Russia’s traditional partner in the region – Cuba. Its Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz, paid an official visit to Moscow from June 6–17 and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Among the priorities of cooperation with Cuba, Volodin named the extraction and processing of mineral resources, the production of cane sugar, tourism, and solar energy. “It is right to expand cooperation in the humanitarian sphere and education,” he added.

On October 1, Volodin and the Chairman of the National Assembly of Venezuela Gomez signed an agreement on inter-parliamentary cooperation, which, according to the Chairman of the State Duma, “will give impetus to the development of inter-parliamentary dialogue and the expansion of bilateral cooperation.” Since the beginning of 2023, Russian-Venezuelan trade turnover has increased by 47%.

On October 2, the first meeting of the commission on cooperation between the State Duma and the Parliament of Nicaragua was also held. Parliamentarians discussed issues of legislative support for financial and economic interaction between Russia and Nicaragua, the trade turnover between them has increased 4.3 times since January compared to the same period in 2022. Volodin called Nicaragua one of Russia’s strategic partners in Latin America, the position of this country in the UN and The Central American Parliament “has our full support.” “It is extremely important that, using the commission format, when considering issues of economic cooperation, for our part, we do everything possible to ensure that our ties in the economy are as strong as in politics,” Volodin said.

A day later, on October 2, an agreement was signed on the accession of the lower house of the Russian parliament to the Central American Parliament as a permanent observer.

The interparliamentary summit “Russia – Latin America” is an attempt to repeat a similar format of interaction with Africa, says Victor Kheifets, professor at the Faculty of International Relations of St. Petersburg State University. Just as with Africa, Moscow would like to make the format regular, annual, which was announced, Kheifetz noted.

The key guests for Russia were Brazil as a partner within the BRICS framework, as well as Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. “This is not so much the idea of ​​the organizers as a reflection of the objective situation – these are the Latin American states that are most actively ready to cooperate,” says Heifetz.

“It’s easier to do business with Africa than with Latin America. In the latter, there is less willingness to cooperate, and there is a clearer reluctance to join either side in the context of the conflict in Ukraine. Interparliamentary events are attractive to Moscow because they provide an opportunity to cooperate where it is difficult to do so at the executive level,” concluded Kheifetz.