MOSCOW, May 1. /TASS/. Members of the lower house of Russia’s parliament and Cuban parliamentarians outlined six directions for cooperation during Saturday's official visit to the Latin American country by a delegation of Russian lawmakers.
"At the first meeting of the interparliamentary commission on communication between the State Duma and the National Assembly [of People’s Power], roadmaps on cooperation along six directions were presented," State Duma First Deputy Speaker Ivan Melnikov told reporters. These include regulation in the spheres of security and counteraction to sanctions, finance and investment, energy, tourism, agriculture and education, he specified.
According to Melnikov, the two sides have agreed to hold two to three online meetings per month to discuss each of those domains at the level of working groups.
Chairman of the Russian State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Leonid Slutsky pledged that the dialogue would be continued soon "both at a bilateral working level and at other venues," including a Russia-Latin America interparliamentary conference due to take place in the fall.
"We should radically help Cuba solve its energy problems," Chairman of the Duma Committee on Energy Pavel Zavalny said. Russian investments will be needed for that, he added, assuring that the projects will pay off, given the high cost of electricity production in Cuba.
Another member of the delegation, Nadezhda Shkolina, First Deputy Chairperson of the State Duma Economic Policy Committee, urged practical steps toward boosting bilateral economic ties further.
Vasily Piskarev, who heads the Duma’s Security and Corruption Control Committee, told reporters about a constructive dialogue on the protection of sovereignty. He also said that the Cuban legislature’s Security Committee expressed a wish to visit Moscow to exchange the best practices in the sphere.