Belarus, Poland to sign inter-parliamentary agreement in 2020

Photo: belta.by

Belarus and Poland have plans to sign an inter-parliamentary cooperation agreement in 2020. The matter was discussed at the meeting of Vice Chairman of the House of Representatives of Belarus Boleslav Pirshtuk with Deputy Marshal of the Polish Sejm Ryszard Terlecki, BelTA has learned. The draft agreement has already been drawn. It is expected to be signed next year, because this year Belarus and Poland will have parliamentary elections. Boleslav Pirshtuk called the agreement a logical outcome of the constructive work of the two parliaments. 

Describing bilateral inter-parliamentary ties, Boleslav Pirshtuk noted that for the past three years Belarus and Poland established “very good, close and, most importantly, regular contacts”:

We have been interacting positively in the international arena. We have recently built good and trustful relations in international organizations, such as the OSCE PA, where we support each other n a variety of matters, including certain sensitive issues. I am happy to say that we also enjoy support of our Polish colleagues in PACE, the dialogue with which has not always been easy for our country. This means that we have managed to overcome a certain artificial barrier that had previously been in place for some time. All this naturally contributes to our rapprochement with the European Union. In this regard, Poland is a good link between the European Union and us. Our economic cooperation is developing well. Poland has invested about 400 million euro in FDI in Belarus. These are not just money, these are new technologies and new companies in innovative spheres that have not been developed in Belarus before. 

We see a great potential here. Despite the fact that our trade turnover is already quite considerable, there's definitely room for further growth. 

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A reminder, a Polish parliamentary delegation led by Deputy Marshal of the Sejm Ryszard Terlecki will be in Belarus till 23 August. The Polish MPs are to hold talks at the Sports and Tourism Ministry. There will also be a separate meeting with the National Assembly’s working group for cooperation with the Polish parliament. The Polish delegation will also tour Myadel District and Glubokoye District.  The parties will discuss ways to scale up inter-parliamentary ties, including via the working groups set up at the two parliaments, and to boost cooperation in trade, economy, investment, tourism and humanitarian field.