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IPU to discuss forming parliamentary G20, notes Russian senator

Legislators from various countries will hash over the creation of a parliamentarian equivalent to the Group of Twenty during the 138th Assembly of the IPU, which will be held in March in Geneva

IPU First Vice President Konstantin Kosachev Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

IPU First Vice President Konstantin Kosachev

© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

MOSCOW, February 5. /TASS/. Legislators from various countries will hash over the creation of a parliamentarian equivalent to the Group of Twenty during the 138th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which will be held in March in Geneva. Argentina has already voiced its readiness to invite G20 parliamentary leaders in the spring of 2019, Chairman of Russia’s Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Committee on International Affairs, and First Vice President of the IPU Konstantin Kosachev announced on Monday.

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"There was a proposal to create a parliamentarian branch of the G20 (P20), and Argentina, which is set to host the IPU's 140th Assembly in April 2019, has already expressed its eagerness to invite the parliamentary heads of the Group of Twenty," Kosachev wrote on his blog on the website of the Federation Council.

According to the legislator, this initiative will certainly be discussed next month in Geneva, when the 138th Assembly of the IPU opens for business there.

Besides, the official revealed that during the special session of the IPU Executive Committee in its headquarters on the weekend, its members were invited as international observers to the Russian presidential elections, which are scheduled for March 18, 2018.

"I admit that we expected a divergence of opinions, but it turned out to be quite the opposite. The members of the executive committee (including our Western partners) eagerly supported a visit to Russia to monitor the presidential elections. They also backed a broader idea of sending large-scale IPU missions to observe the voting," the senator emphasized.

As a result, a decision has been made to set up a working group to hammer out suggestions on "including" the IPU in the process of monitoring elections in the union’s member states.

IPU background and 2018 election

In December, Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko announced that the parliament’s upper house, which has the right to invite international observers to the presidential polls, would send the corresponding invitations, including to the IPU.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union, established in 1889, is the world’s oldest and most influential, and credible international parliamentary organization. The IPU is an informal "parliamentary equivalent" of the UN. The organization consists of 177 countries, and another 12 inter-parliamentary organizations are IPU’s associate members.

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