DUSHANBE, November 24, Asia-Plus — A two-day session of the Interstate Parliamentary Assembly (IPA) of the Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC), chaired by Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev, Chairman of the Majlisi Milli (Tajikistan’s upper chamber of parliament), has opened in St. Petersburg on today.
Shavkat Saidov, an aide to the Majlisi Milli speaker, said that the session aims to consider issues related to concerted action of the EARC parliaments to expand cooperation between the Community member nations in the fields of agriculture, energy and culture
The EAEC members are Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine have observer status.
We ill recall that Uzbekistan is currently in the process of withdrawing from the Community it was a member to since 2006. Tashkent expects EAEC decision on the procedures on membership suspension by November 25. Although according to Pyotr Zverev, Executive Secretary of the EAEC Interstate Parliamentary Assembly, this issue will be considered at Intergovernmental Council session in December by heads of states because such issue is not a subject of one-way decision by any member nation.
The EAEC Interstate Parliamentary Assembly was established in 1996. The Assembly members include 86 MPs from the EAEC member nations — Russia is represented by 28 MPs, Belarus, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are represented by 14 MPs each, and Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are represented in the Assembly by 8 MPs each.
