Pan-African Parliament President, CSTO PA Executive Secretary Meet at Russia-Africa Forum

On October 30, Fateh Boutbig, President of Pan-African Parliament, and Sergei Pospelov, CSTO PA Executive Secretary, held a working meeting in Moscow on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa forum.

The meeting focused on taking practical steps to expand interparliamentary cooperation, as well as implementation of one of the priorities of Russia's chairmanship of the CSTO: making the Organization a platform for broad discussion of pressing international security and defense issues. 

The outreach to African partners is the result of the Assembly's continuous work. At the earlier Coordination Meeting of Chairpersons of Committees on Defense and Security of the Parliaments of the CSTO Member States, participants proposed establishing ties with the Pan-African Parliament.

Groundwork for the current talks was laid on the sidelines of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly, where representatives of international parliamentary bodies repeatedly expressed interest in exchanging best lawmaking practices.

"Today's meeting puts our decisions into practice and answers the demands of our time. In a multipolar world, we need to build new, reliable bridges. Exchanging lawmaking experience between the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly and the Pan-African Parliament will help us respond more effectively to modern challenges," Sergei Pospelov said.

In turn, Fateh Boutbig confirmed his readiness to engage in productive cooperation and study the Assembly's best practices in model legislation. 

Following the meeting, both sides expressed interest in working together.