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76 speakers confirm participation in St. Petersburg's Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly

The 137th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union will take place in the middle of October

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/. A total of 76 speakers from parliaments worldwide have already confirmed their participation in the forthcoming Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in St. Petersburg set for October, Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said at the opening of the lower house’s autumn session.

"The 137th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union will take place in St. Petersburg in October, 76 speakers from foreign parliaments have already confirmed their participation," he said. "Basically, this is the most representational assembly over the past years," he stressed.

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Senate speaker says Russia backs Mexican candidate for IPU presidency

"We can talk about a global convention of parliamentarians, besides that it will take place in Russia, in St. Petersburg," he said, anticipating many State Duma members to participate in the upcoming conference.

The 137th IPU Assembly will take place in St. Petersburg in the middle of October 2017. It was decided at the 135th Assembly in Geneva in spite of the Ukrainian and a few other delegations’ opposition. St. Petersburg was selected by 138 out of 159 votes.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union founded in 1889 is the oldest and one of the most influential parliamentary organizations. The national parliaments of 173 countries are members of the IPU, and 11 regional parliamentary assemblies are associate members.

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