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Russian MP hopes for close cooperation with Israeli Knesset

A lawmaker expressed the idea of holding a joint meeting of the relevant parliamentary committees and commissions

MOSCOW, March 7. /TASS/. Head of Russia’s State Duma (lower house of parliament) International Affairs Committee, Leonid Slutsky, has spoken out in favor of close and long-lasting cooperation with the Knesset (Israel’s unicameral parliament) and a joint meeting of parliamentary committees.

"I would like our cooperation to be long-lasting and close," he said on Tuesday at a meeting with the delegation of the Knesset opposition bloc led by its co-Chairman, Yitzhak Herzog.

Slutsky again expressed the idea of holding a joint meeting of the relevant parliamentary committees and commissions. "We could continue to exchange views on the key issues that are of interest to us, such as international terrorism, Syria, Iran, US polices, cooperation between our countries as well as the complex Iranian dossier Russia and Israel often have dissenting opinions on," Slutsky said.

The Russian parliamentarian noted that the two sides’ stances on the majority of these issues converge.

For his part, Yitzhak Herzog assured that Israeli lawmakers are ready "to discuss the issues of the Middle East policies along with issues concerning such countries as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Turkey, Egypt, and, of course, Syria."

On Sunday, in the run-up to his visit to Moscow, Yitzhak Herzog said that Russia plays a huge role in the process of moving towards a peaceful settlement of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. In light of this, he added that he attaches great importance to relations with Russia.