On 21 February 1995 the ‘Treaty of Friendship,
Neighbourliness and Cooperation’ was signed between the
On 2 April 1996 a whole new stage in the unification of Belarus and Russia began, when the ‘Treaty on the Formation of a Community of Russia and Belarus’ was signed. According to this document it was decided to establish a Parliamentary Assembly - as the representative body of the Community. This would be formed on the basis of the equal representation of the deputies of the National Parliaments of Russia and Belarus.
At the meeting of the heads of the Parliaments of Belarus and Russia, which was held on 29 April 1996 in St. Petersburg, the Agreement on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Community was signed. This Assembly was assigned the functions of drafting legal acts and submitting the relevant proposals to the bodies with appropriate legislative powers.
Since the formation of the Community in April 1996 (from April 1997 — the Union of Belarus and Russia and from December 1999 — the Union State), the deputies of the Parliamentary Assembly have carried out the work that has laid the foundations for the formation of the legal framework of the Union State.
The powers, composition and operational procedure of the Parliamentary Assembly are defined in the Regulations of the Parliamentary Assembly which was approved on 13 June 1997. The latest amendments and additions to the Regulations were introduced on 16 September 2003.
Sergey NARYSHKIN (