Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Olena Kondratiuk will attend the Fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments. The second session of the Fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments, organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, will be held on September 7-8, 2021 in Vienna, Austria.
The World Conferences of Speakers of Parliament are held every five years. For the first time since 2005, the Vice Speaker will head the official delegation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
Topics of discussion during the plenary sessions of the conference will be the issues of achieving sustainable development and human well-being, environmental protection and the impact of climate change on the economy. Participants will also discuss overcoming the challenges and consequences of COVID-19, combating misinformation, gender equality and non-discrimination against women and girls, ensuring the transparency of parliaments and their role in global governance.
A joint Declaration of the Fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments is expected to be adopted following the plenary sessions.
"Our participation in the conference will demonstrate that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as the institution is aware of and shares the need to unite international efforts to address current issues of the global agenda, as well as increase the role of parliaments in resolving crises," said Vice Speaker Olena Kondratiuk.
As part of the visit of the Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the Republic of Austria, bilateral working meetings with the leadership of the Parliaments of European countries are also planned.
According to Olena Kondratiuk, the key purpose of her visit and participation in the World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments is to use this platform and the series of bilateral meetings to report on Russia's ongoing aggression against Ukraine, the occupation of Crimea and parts of Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
"I will talk about the need to maintain and strengthen sanctions against the Russian Federation. Providing Ukraine with a NATO Membership Action Plan, real economic, energy, investment and defense capabilities and safeguards to deter Russian aggression, which is a security challenge to Europe and international law," the Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada explained the purpose of the visit.
According to the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, the newly created Crimea Platform with the participation of 46 countries should also have an active parliamentary dimension.