MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is able to create a single legal framework and build a respectful dialogue between all member-states, Russia’s Federation Council (upper house) Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said on Wednesday.

"PACE, including thanks to your efforts, has every opportunity to create a common legal, humanitarian, social all-European space and build an honest and respectful dialogue. I am confident that constructive work on a unifying agenda will become a solid foundation for ensuring peace, stability, economic growth, and prosperity for all member-states without exception," Matviyenko wrote in her congratulatory telegram to PACE President Rik Daems on occasion of the International Day of Parliamentarism.

The upper house speaker stressed that the Federation Council is open for multilateral cooperation and joint projects "free from double standards and dividing lines." According to Matviyenko, another example of this should be the World Conference on Interfaith and Intercultural Dialogue, which is being organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union with the UN support and is due on May 16-18, 2022, in St. Petersburg.

The International Day of Parliamentarism was introduced in 2018 in a resolution of the UN General Assembly at the initiative put forward by the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Interparliamentary Assembly at the 137th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in St. Petersburg, and this date has a special importance of developing democratic traditions, Matviyenko noted.

"You and I know very well how important the role of parliamentary diplomacy is in solving pressing international and regional issues and jointly searching for answers to emerging challenges and threats," she said.

According to the Federation Council’s press service, the congratulatory telegrams were also sent to the Parliament of the Southern Common Market, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and to the heads of parliaments from various countries.