BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

02/11/2006

Minsk Hosts Session Of 'Slavic Parliamentary Union'

A forum called the Slavic Parliamentary Union convened for a session in Minsk on November 1, Belapan reported, citing official information sources. The session was reportedly attended by lawmakers from Belarus, Russia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine, and Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniester. The session adopted a statute of the Slavic Parliamentary Union and elected Belarusian legislator Syarhey Kastsyan as the union's chairman. "It is a historical event about which people will speak and write both today and in the future," Kastsyan told journalists. "We are going to develop cooperation through the parliaments of Slavic countries. First and foremost, it will be cooperation in legislative work and an exchange of draft bills on economic, cultural, scientific, and educational issues.... The union created today will be doing everything possible to prevent Slavic states from confronting each other in the international arena." JM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2006/11/3-cee/cee-021106.asp