Iran Majlis Speaker in Russia for IPU Meeting

Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani arrived in the Russian city of St. Petersburg on Thursday to attend the annual assembly of Inter-Parliamentary Union and discuss parliamentary ties with his counterparts from across the world. Larijani is set to deliver a speech at the meeting that opens today and runs until Wednesday, IRNA reported.  The meeting is held under the theme of “promoting cultural pluralism and peace through inter-faith and inter-ethnic dialogue”, and has placed on its agenda ways to bolster parliamentary collaboration, tackle the difficult challenge of terrorism and promote human rights and democracy. The meeting is attended by parliamentary delegations from more than 150 countries, which include over 100 parliament speakers and up to 70 deputy speakers. The Inter-Parliamentary Union, established in 1889, is the world’s oldest international parliamentary organization.  The union comprises 173 countries and 11 inter-parliamentary organizations are IPU’s associate members. On Friday, Larijani sat down for formal talks with the speakers of the Russian Parliament’s upper house and lower house, Valentina Matviyenko and Vyacheslav Volodin, respectively.