BRICS ruling parties ready to cooperate and exchange experience

In April in the upper house of the Russian parliament - the Federation Council - will be created a sub-committee for cooperation with the BRICS countries, said the deputy chairman of the international affairs committee of the Federation Council, the member of the General Council of "United Russia" Andrey Klimov.

"Currently we have no special structure, which would help us to build relationships (with the BRICS countries — RIR), the way we do it, for example, with the European Parliament, where we have Parliamentary Cooperation Committee shared with the State Duma, said Klimov in his interview to "Izvestia". But given the importance of the questions raised within the BRICS they should not be dealt with on a case by case basis. So taking into consideration our presidency (for the period from 1 April 2015 to 15 February 2016 the chairmanship of the BRICS goes to Russia - RIR) and the prospects of this association we have decided to organize the Subcommittee on BRICS. I think that after making provision for it, full-scale work can begin as early as in April."

According to Klimov, later on it is planned to organize the meeting in the Federation Council with the ambassadors of the BRICS countries in order to continue the discussion on possible options for parliamentary cooperation.

"Through the "United Russia" I have been party measuring BRICS. All our partners have agreed that it is necessary to have it. The party measuring is also welcomed by the ruling parties of Brazil, China and both Indian parties, Klimov said. - My consultations with the leadership of the South African Congress also confirmed its prospects. That is, we are more or less set with the party agenda, the format already exists."

Klimov said that in early July it is scheduled to hold a high-level meeting of BRICS parliamentarians. "For many reasons I would not say that this meeting is an opportunity to create the Parliamentary Assembly of the BRICS. Firstly, our partners are yet to discuss this idea in full and they have no consolidated opinion on the matter. Secondly, within the BRICS there are countries that are in no hurry to speed up the political trend,"- he said.

"It is not necessary to set the task to organize the Assembly by any specific date, now it is important to find common ground among parliamentarians about the BRICS itself," Klimov said. According to him, all involved should gear up for "thoughtful and consistent work".

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