Matviyenko invited to Switzerland for European Parliamentary Association meeting
GENEVA. Oct 19 (Interfax) - President of the Council of States of the Swiss Federal Assembly Claude Heche invited Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko to attend a meeting of the European Parliamentary Association in Switzerland next year.
"At the meeting Claude Heche invited Valentina Matviyenko to attend a meeting of the European Parliamentary Association, which will be held in Switzerland in 2016," the press service of the Federation Council said in a statement.
Matviyenko told journalists later that she accepted Heche's invitation to attend the Association's meeting in Switzerland next year, adding that her attendance of the event as part of her official visit to Switzerland.
Matviyenko and Heche met on the sidelines of the Interparliamentary Union Assembly in Geneva on Monday.
The expansion of cooperation between the upper houses of the parliaments of the two countries was highlighted at the talks, the statement reads.
Matviyenko highly assessed the level of cooperation between Russian and Swiss parliamentarians and the level of partnership between the two countries in general.
"The relations have intensified considerably in the last few years, we are sharing the experience in the sphere of federalism and lawmaking. Along with this, it is needed to develop the political dialogue at all levels to give a new impetus to the development of trade and economic, scientific and humanitarian ties," the Federation Council press service quoted Matviyenko as saying.
It said that the interlocutors also noted the importance of strengthening cooperation within the framework of the Federation Council-Council of States Friendship Group. At the meeting the sides also discussed the cooperation of lawmakers of Russia and Switzerland on the bilateral basis and at international floors. Meanwhile, the sides agreed to hold joint events next year timed to the 70th anniversary of restoring the diplomatic relations between the two countries.