Volodin to attend meeting of Eurasian Parliaments

Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the State Duma [the lower house of the Russian parliament - TASS] will depart on Sunday to Antalya with a working visit to attend the third meeting of speakers of Eurasian parliaments.

Economic cooperation, environment and sustainable development in Eurasia will be the key topic of the event, the press service of the State Duma told reporters. Delegations from 41 countries of the globe will take part in the meeting.

Issues of cooperation in integration formats in Eurasia will also be raised at the meeting, chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the State Duma Leonid Slutsky told reporters. "The parliamentary dimension of many integration processes underway on the European continent has been formed at present. These are the Eurasian Economic Union, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the project of the Economic Belt of the Silk Road, expanding in recent months. All of them will be the subject matter for discussion by the economic block of the meeting," he said.

"Problems of environment, demography and, certainly, joint countering of global challenges and threats - international terrorism and drug trafficking are planned to be highlighted," Slutsky noted. "The format of the Eurasian parliamentary meeting has already established itself and is gaining strength year after year," he added.

Bilateral meetings of the Russian speaker with heads of parliaments of other countries are also planned during the meeting, the press service said.

In 2016, the State Duma of Russia and the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea acted as initiators for the meeting format of speakers of Eurasian parliaments.