CSTO Parliamentary Delegation Heads Meet on Sidelines of 153rd IPU Assembly in Tanzania

On October 7, heads of parliamentary delegations from CSTO member states held a coordination meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, on the sidelines of the 153rd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

Rustam Shokhmurod, Chairman of the Committee on Legislation and Human Rights of the Majlisi Namoyandagon of the Majlisi Oli of the Republic of Tajikistan, opened and chaired the meeting.

Representatives of the national parliaments of CSTO member states and the Assembly Secretariat took part in the event. Belarus was represented by parliamentarians Sergei Aleynik and Sergei Rachkov, Russia by Aleksandr Rusakov and Vitaly Nazarenko, and Tajikistan by Munira Karimzoda and Rukhshona Vosifjonzoda. Viktor Rogalev, Plenipotentiary Representative of the Kurultai of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Nurbek Satvaldiev, Plenipotentiary Representative of the Jogorku Kenesh of the Kyrgyz Republic, joined by videoconference. The CSTO PA Secretariat was represented by Sergei Pospelov, Executive Secretary of the Assembly, who also joined by videoconference, and Gleb Bokhanovich, Secretary of the CSTO PA Permanent Commission on Political Affairs and International Cooperation.

Implementation of the priorities of Russian Federation's CSTO chairmanship in 2026 was the first item on the agenda. 

The meeting also addressed the coordination of foreign policy of the CSTO member states' parliamentary delegations within the IPU. Aleksandr Rusakov, a member of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Science, Education, and Culture, delivered a speech on the topic.

Sergei Rachkov, Chairman of the Standing Commission on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, Chairman of the IPU Eurasia geopolitical group, and a member of the CSTO PA Permanent Commission on Political Affairs and International Cooperation, reported on the coordination of work of the CSTO parliamentary delegations within the IPU Eurasia geopolitical group.

Parliamentarians also exchanged views on the issues within the framework of the ongoing 153rd IPU Assembly. 

Sergei Pospelov, Executive Secretary of the CSTO PA, briefed colleagues on the Assembly's upcoming events, in particular the panel discussion "The Parliamentary Vector of Strengthening Collective Security" at the International Security Forum, to be held on November 10–11 in Moscow.

The constructive discussion allowed the delegations to align their positions on key items of the international parliamentary agenda.