Mr Anatoly Rubinov, Chairman of the Council of the Republic, addressed the 3rd World Conference of Speakers of Parliament

      On 19 July 2010 Mr Anatoly Rubinov, Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, made a speech at the 3rd World Conference of Speakers of Parliament in Geneva (Swiss Confederation) on the topic of “Parliaments in a world of crisis: securing global democratic accountability for the common good”. He underlined that all countries had experienced the negative aftermath of the severe financial and economic crisis. The Republic of Belarus couldn’t avoid some loss of production but managed to retain macroeconomic stability, people’s confidence and public peace. Parliamentarians played a special role in overcoming crisis developments. They contributed to the adoption of a number of new laws that focused on liberation of business environment, encouragement of business initiative and state support of the population. Due to these changes the Republic of Belarus moved from 82^nd to 58^th position in the World Bank’s “Doing Business” rating. Mr Anatoly Rubinov noted that even a more ambitious goal had been set — to be in the top 30 of this rating.

      Close dialogue between the authorities and the citizens is a prerequisite of keeping social stability. The most effective and well-tried form of the Belarusian senators’ work is personal reception of citizens and considering their written requests. Therefore the senators are always aware of the society’s needs and constantly receive information about the state of things at the local level, discover pressure points and solve the acute problems.

      The Council of the Republic as a territorial representation body focuses on the interaction with the regions. The Council for Cooperation of Local Self-Government Bodies at the Council of the Republic plays a very important role in this process, as well as in the coordination of activities of various level local Councils. These activities are accompanied by extensive campaigns announced and covered in the mass media. In addition to that the senators use the press, the TV and the Internet on a regular basis in order to spread information about their activities and future plans, as well as to comment the Parliament’s decisions. Such mechanism of cooperation of “Parliament — civil society — local authorities — Government — mass media” allowed to create an effective model of dialogue between the authorities and the people and ensured clear and systematic work of parliamentarians aimed at public outreach based on responsibility and transparency.

      While speaking about the national parliaments’ activities Mr Anatoly Rubinov noted that one had to remember about the common responsibility of parliamentarians to the international community. When making decisions at the national level the parliamentarians should consider global trends as well as global experience. Thus constructive inter-parliamentary cooperation and the special mission of the UN in its development appear to be of utmost importance. Mr Anatoly Rubinov recollected some recent Belarusian initiatives in the UN, in particular forming global partnership to counteract human traffic, ensuring free access to cutting-edge technologies in new and renewable source of energy, accepting the value  of diversity of nations’ progressive development ways and some others. According to his opinion the international parliamentary community should consistently support the strengthening of the UN’s role in responding today’s global challenges.

      The Chairman of the upper chamber of the Parliament expressed his confidence that the Inter-Parliamentary Union bringing together the parliamentarians of 155 countries was a unique framework for international parliamentary dialogue. Its activities should be aimed at working out coordinated approaches, which would ensure peaceful and mutually rewarding development of all countries and help to avoid the crisis developments all over the world.

      Later in the day the Chairman of the Council of the Republic had meetings with Ms Meira Kumar, Speaker of the Lok Sabha of the Parliament of the Republic of India, Ms Tsetska Tsacheva, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria, Mr Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Speaker of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Mr Oqtay Asadov, Speaker of the Milli Mejlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The participants of the meetings discussed the issues of intensifying bilateral trade, economic and inter-parliamentary cooperation as well as coordinating the positions within the framework of international forums.

      Ms Nina Mazay, Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic for Foreign Affairs and National Security, also takes part in the conference as the head of the delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia.

      The conference will continue its work on 20 — 21 June.