The 137th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) opens on Saturday in St. Petersburg: Russia for the first time welcomes delegates from this oldest political organization in the world, uniting parliamentarians from 173 states.
MPS is one of the most authoritative and influential international parliamentary organizations, an informal parliamentary dimension of the UN. 173 countries are members of the Union, 11 inter-parliamentary associations are members of the IPU as associate members.
The main theme of the assembly is “Promoting cultural pluralism and peace through interreligious and interethnic dialogue”. Within its framework, delegates will discuss the issues of dialogue between the cultures of the world in general, the prospects for their further rapprochement. As the organizers expect, the topic of the general debate will allow them to lead in the direction of promoting intercultural and interreligious dialogue for peace and social stability, respect for diversity, and creating an atmosphere that promotes peace and mutual understanding at all levels.
The press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov earlier confirmed that Vladimir Putin will take part in the meeting of the Ministry of Railways on Saturday. The head of state will address the members of the assembly, listen to the speeches of the leadership of the assembly, as well as the speakers of the Federation Council and the State Duma Valentina Matvienko and Vyacheslav Volodin.