On 23-27 March, the Ukrainian delegation headed by the First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr Korniienko will pay a working visit to the Swiss Confederation.

The programme of the visit includes participation of delegates in the 148th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

On the second day of the working visit, the Ukrainian delegates continued their work in committees on the margins of the IPU Assembly and held a number of important and fruitful meetings. According to Arsenii Pushkarenko, the Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation, the Ukrainian delegation plans to participate in the plenary session, committees, bilateral and multilateral meetings with delegations of parliaments from the EU, G7 and the Global South.

France, Gambia, Tanzania, Cape Verde, South Africa, Australia and Brazil – the Ukrainian delegation held a number of meetings on the sidelines of the 148th IPU Assembly

Ukrainian MPs discussed issues of parliamentary diplomacy with the Cape Verdean delegation. In particular, the country established a friendship group with Ukraine. The First Vice Speaker Oleksandr Korniienko expressed his gratitude for this step to improve inter-parliamentary cooperation. He also stressed the importance of adopting a resolution recognising the Holodomor of 1932-1933 as genocide against the Ukrainian people.

According to the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation, Oleksandr Merezhko, at a meeting with the delegation of Cape Verde, the country's parliamentarians informed that their Parliament had established a group of friendship with Ukraine, which included eight deputies.

At the same time, Oleksandr Merezhko noted that the Ukrainian Parliament would also set up a corresponding friendship group, and Lesia Vasylenko emphasised the importance and necessity of holding meetings online – and the readiness of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to implement this.

During the meeting with the French delegates, the Ukrainian MPs informed their colleagues about the recent missile attacks on Ukraine by russia. Oleksandr Korniienko emphasised the importance of military assistance, which is urgently needed right now. He also touched upon the topic of cooperation with “non-Western countries”, noting that Ukraine is actively working on opening embassies in these countries. Ukrainian delegates also stressed that Ukraine appreciates France's leadership in supporting our country.

“It is important for us to see leadership in Europe,” said Oleksandr Merezhko. He also added that at the NATO Summit in Washington, Ukraine needs a clear formula for further action.

At the same time, Lesia Vasylenko called on France to activate the US to support Ukraine. She stressed that civilians suffer the most from russian attacks. She also invited delegations from the Francophonie and France to pay working visits to Ukraine.

For his part, French MP Xavier Iacovelli said that France plans to impose a 100% tax on the frozen assets of the russian federation.

The results of the Grain Corridor and the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi's Peace Formula were the main topics raised by the Ukrainian delegation during the meeting with Gambian representatives. The parties discussed food security issues in detail. Ukrainian parliamentarians, for their part, once again emphasised the need to implement the Ukrainian peace plan and called for the recognition of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 as genocide against the Ukrainian people.

At the same time, Lesia Vasylenko informed her colleagues in more detail about the current situation with the deportation of Ukrainian children by russia, stressing that such actions by russia are part of the genocide of the Ukrainian people. In addition, Olha Rudenko briefed her colleagues on the ten points of the Peace Formula of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, noting that the Ukrainian peace plan is universal, as it is about the international order. She invited Gambian representatives to take part in the Peace Summit to be held in Switzerland.

“The dialogue with the Republic of South Africa is important. Colleagues are ready to talk and hear what kind of help Ukraine needs,” said the First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, noting that representatives of Ukraine had already met with delegates from South Africa in Angola and spoke about the consequences of russia's armed aggression against our country: “This time, we also emphasised this – new shelling and the terrible consequences and numbers of war victims.”

For his part, Oleksandr Merezhko emphasised the need to decolonise russia and invited South Africa to attend the Global Peace Summit to be held in Geneva.

“Now the crime of ecocide is happening right in front of our eyes, and the international community has failed to deal with it. We need to act today, because the longer we wait, the more damage is done,” said Lesia Vasylenko, the member of the Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management, calling on South Africa to prepare a resolution to condemn these actions.

Oleksandr Korniienko told the Australian parliamentarians about the damage caused to Ukraine's critical infrastructure, including emergency power cuts. “Ukraine needs weapons to effectively protect the population and critical facilities, as well as to fight on the battlefield,” he said, while calling on Australia to support the President Zelenskyi's Peace Formula.

In addition, the First Deputy Speaker expressed hope that a Peace Summit would be held in Switzerland to discuss the situation in Ukraine and appealed to Australia to advocate for the idea of the Summit and call on other countries to join.

Olha Rudenko, a member of the Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation, said that russians are trying to destroy the identity of Ukrainian children and are also adopting them, which makes it even more difficult for them to return home to Ukraine.

For their part, the Australian delegates confirmed their willingness to pay working visits to Ukraine. In addition, they said that due to the country's small stockpile of weapons, Australia cannot transfer much, but is currently developing its defence industry to improve future supplies.

During the meeting with his Brazilian counterparts, the First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine invited Brazil to join the Global Peace Summit. He also shared the experience of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine during martial law: “We will not stop in our struggle for what is right, and support in the international arena is extremely important.”

At the same time, Oleksandr Merezhko stressed that Ukraine needs Brazil's support in the international arena. For her part, Olha Rudenko informed her colleagues in more detail about the current situation regarding the deportation of Ukrainian children by russia.

In addition, Oleksandr Merezhko, Arsenii Pushkarenko, Oleksandr Sanchenko and Artur Herasymov met with the Tanzanian parliamentary delegation. Oleksandr Merezhko, for his part, appealed to the Tanzanian Parliament to recognise the Holodomor as genocide against the Ukrainian people. “We want to see Tanzania among the participants of the Global Peace Summit. We invite you to make your contribution to bring peace closer,” he said.

At the same time, Oleksandr Sanchenko, the member of the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, spoke in more detail about food security issues and proposed to organise an online meeting between the agrarian parliamentary committees of Ukraine and Tanzania.

For his part, Artur Gerasymov, a member of the Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy, urged his colleagues from Tanzania to support the IPU Assembly resolution on the impact of armed conflict on sustainable development.

During a working meeting with representatives of Indonesia, the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation Oleksandr Merezhko informed about the morning terrorist attacks against Ukraine by russia.

At the same time, he condemned Indonesia's participation in election observation in russia, as “it affects the legitimisation of elections in the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by russia”. “We want to end the war as soon as possible. But russia does not want to end the war, they want to occupy Odesa, Kyiv, they want to destroy our nation. To withstand, we need weapons. We are dealing with a serial killer. He will not stop in Ukraine,” stressed Oleksandr Merezhko.

For her part, Lesia Vasylenko invited Indonesian representatives to visit Ukraine and support the resolution from Ukraine in the IPU Committee on Sustainable Development. Olha Rudenko called for help to return Ukrainian children illegally deported to russia.

“putin's re-election means that the population supports putin. That's why we say that this is not just putin's war,” Oleksandr Merezhko said during a meeting with representatives of Mexico. He emphasised the need and importance of adhering to the principles of international law – territorial integrity, inviolability of borders and prohibition of the use of weapons. The Ukrainian MP also invited Mexico to join the Global Peace Summit to be held in Switzerland.

Finally, a working meeting was held with representatives of the United Kingdom.

Events within the framework of the 148th IPU Assembly with the participation of Ukrainian delegates

The member of the Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy Oleksii Zhmerenetskyi joined the Democracy Committee, where he spoke about Ukraine's opportunities for partners in the fight against fake news on the Internet and the destructive role of authoritarian regimes in using artificial intelligence to destabilise society. “The end result of using artificial intelligence now still depends on the intention of the person programming and using this technology. The technological process will become a threat to humanity, just as nuclear weapons became a threat in the hands of totalitarian regimes,” the Ukrainian MP said. At the same time, he noted that it is now necessary to work to prevent russia and other malicious regimes from using new technologies to spread aggression and social polarisation on all continents.

In addition, Oleksii Zhmerenetskyi said that companies in Ukraine are actively developing products based on artificial intelligence: “Ukrainians have already demonstrated the ability to quickly master new technologies and open up opportunities in them that no one has ever imagined before. While russia is exporting disinformation, Ukraine is becoming an exporter of technologies to fight for reality and truth.”

Finally, as Oleksandr Merezhko informed, on the second day of the Ukrainian delegation's working day, a meeting of the 12+ Group, which brings together countries that profess democratic values within the Inter-Parliamentary Union, was also held on the sidelines of the 148th IPU Assembly. As part of this event, delegates from different countries discussed a draft resolution on the protection of Ukrainian children during the war.

The Ukrainian delegation also includes members of the Ukrainian Parliament: the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation Oleksandr Merezhko, the Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation Arsenii Pushkarenko, the member of the Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation Olha Rudenko, the member of the Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management Lesia Vasylenko, the member of the Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy Oleksii Zhmerenetskyi, the member of the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy Oleksandr Sanchenko, and the member of the Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy Artur Herasymov.

For reference. The Inter-Parliamentary Union is a global organisation of national parliaments.

It was founded more than 130 years ago as the world's first multilateral political organisation to encourage cooperation and dialogue among all countries. Today, the IPU has 180 national member parliaments and 15 regional parliamentary bodies.

The IPU promotes democracy and helps parliaments develop into stronger, younger, greener, more gender-balanced and innovative institutions. It also protects the rights of human beings – parliamentarians – through a special committee made up of MPs from around the world.