Parliamentary diplomacy expands over years of war – First Deputy Speaker

This was stated by the First Deputy Speaker of Ukraine’s Parliament (the Verkhovna Rada), eksandr Kornienko, in an interview with Ukrinform.

"Our parliamentary diplomacy has expanded significantly during the war, and more MPs are now invved in it," said Kornienko.

He reminded that the Verkhovna Rada has repeatedly provided a platform for speeches by foreign guests of the highest level, including the leaders of Eurean institutions, such as Eurean Parliament President Roberta Metsa and Eurean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Regarding the level and number of foreign communications, they have increased "several times" compared to before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"Previously, Ukrainian speakers were not participants in G7 Speaker Summits, but now this happens regularly; we were not participants in such high-level meetings in the Eurean Parliament and other parliaments around the world, but now we are. Our Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada has been to most Eurean parliaments and has spoken in many of them," noted the pitician.

He also pointed out the expansion of coeration with countries outside the Western world.

Over the past three years, the Ukrainian delegation in the Inter-Parliamentary Union has held over 200 meetings, half of them at a high level, with cleagues from around the world, Kornienko calculated.

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The geography of contacts is also expanding — with Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Recently, Kyiv hosted the first inter-parliamentary summit with Latin American countries, with representatives from more than 10 countries participating. Overall, contacts are expanding with countries geographically distant from Ukraine but which are very important.

Additionally, Kornienko mentioned that legislation on local elections needs to be adjusted due to the war.

As previously reported, the First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine was on a visit to Berlin, where he met with the head of the Germany-Ukraine group in the Bundestag, Robin Wagener, and took part in a conference dedicated to Ukraine's Eurean integration.