TEL AVIV, February 25. /ITAR-TASS/. Speaker of Russia’s State Duma, Sergei Naryshkin will discuss the expansions of inter-parliamentary ties and a whole range of issues of inter-state cooperation in the economy and in the humanitarian sphere in the course of an official visit to Israel beginning Tuesday.
Upon landing at Ben Gurion airport in the afternoon, Naryshkin will head for the Mediterranean beach city of Netanya where a ceremony of laying flowers at a memorial devoted to the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
After that he will have a meeting with representatives of local veteran organizations. As the chairman of the Russian Historical Society, he will hold a roundtable conference with Israeli historians, researchers of local lore, and activists of public associations.
Later at night, Naryshkin is expected to have dinner with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in Jerusalem.
For Wednesday morning, Naryshkin’s agenda features talks with President Shimon Peres at the presidential residence in Jerusalem. The next item is a meeting with the speaker of Knesset, Yuli Edelstein, in the course of which focus will be given to an expansion of inter-parliamentary relations.
Also, Naryshkin will attend a plenary session of the Knesset.
From Jerusalem, Naryshkin will go to Ramallah in the West Bank of the Jordan where he will have talks with the President of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.
Upon completion of the visit on Wednesday, Naryshkin is expected to fly to Turkey.
“In the conditions where events in the Middle East like the continuing Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the situation around Syria and Iran, it is vital /for the two sides/ to discuss all the problems openly among the parliaments of Russia, Israel and Turkey,” Dr. Alexei Pushkov, the chairman of the Duma foreign policy committee told Itar-Tass. He will accompany Naryshkin on the trip.
“Our countries engage in all the processes actively, which attaches paramount importance to dialogue, since historical experience shows that progress is achieved on the track of a search for compromise solutions, not on the tracks where positions collide,” Dr Pushkov said.
“We’ll bring our viewpoints and approaches to the Turkish and Israeli counterparts,” Dr Pushkov said. “It’s important to take account of all the viewpoints because politics envisions multiple options and here we have a big opportunity to broaden the spectrum of our notions about how the Israeli and Turkish parliaments assess events in the Middle East and, more specifically, in Turkey and Iraq.