The Parliamentary Association of the Far East and Transbaikalia is almost the same age as the regional Duma. In 1994, a decision was made to form the Association of legislative (representative) government bodies of the Far East and Transbaikalia, and in 1995 this decision was implemented. Irina Valerievna, what does participation in such an association bring to the Duma?
Irina Zikunova: The initiator of the creation of the parliamentary association was the first chairman of the Legislative Duma of the Khabarovsk Territory, Viktor Ozerov, who also became its leader. Now, associations of the “Far East and Transbaikalia” type operate in all federal districts. And this gives strength to the legislative initiatives of the regions, which we submit to the federal level.
The regional Legislative Duma, exercising the right of legislative initiative, can propose any norm or amendment to a particular federal law. But it is rather difficult to obtain the support of the State Duma; the government of the Russian Federation is also very strict with such ideas. Sometimes this is due to formal non-compliance with the canons of legislative technique. But more often the narrowness of the regional vision is reflected when an attempt is made to solve a local problem with a general provision of the federal law.
But if we receive the approval, support and understanding of the members of the Far East and Transbaikalia Association, it means that the standard is proposed in the interest of citizens or organizations of at least the entire Far East macroregion.
In addition, the speakers of the regional parliaments actively interact, exchange experiences, advise each other and, if necessary, exchange ideas. The leaders of the legislative assemblies and dumas coordinate the entire agenda in their regions, so they have the opportunity to take a broad view of the entire system. When these people act together, a very good synergy of integrated experience is created.
The colleagues of the parliamentary association supported a number of initiatives of the regional legislative Duma. For example, we called for speeding up the development of comprehensive assessment criteria for classifying territories as regions of the Far North. There was a general call to support forestry companies during the period of ban on the export of round timber and in a situation of sanctioning pressure. The association also supported our initiative to amend the federal law on nomadic beekeeping.
Parliamentary associations representing other macro-regions work closely together. These integrative associations make legislative processes more systematic, manageable and truly supportive of objective and forward-looking initiatives.
The Regional Duma not only interacts with its colleagues within the framework of the Parliamentary Association “Far East and Transbaikalia”, but also concludes interparliamentary agreements with the legislative bodies of other Russian regions. What is the purpose of such agreements and how are they implemented?
Irina Zikunova: The Khabarovsk Territory Duma is one of the partners of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly. The Neva city parliament is very experienced and powerful; almost all deputies work on a permanent professional basis. We have similar views, which helps in our work. For example, on the eve of the Days of Parliamentarism, I was in St. Petersburg and shared our experience with the Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Assembly, Pavel Itkin: I gave him part of my presentation for young people, and he told me how they work with young people and people with disabilities.
The agreement with Il Tumen of the Sakha Republic has one interesting aspect: interaction in the interests of representative bodies at the municipal level. There are many uluses in Yakutia and there is a fairly significant element of representative government of settlements. The same is true in the Khabarovsk Territory. We have a Council of Municipal Entities and a Council of Chairmen of Representative Bodies of Municipal Entities under the Legislative Duma of the Khabarovsk Territory – a very serious and qualified body, consisting of representatives of the assemblies of deputies. In our Duma there was a landing group of the heads of the Yakut uluses. We discussed the issues at hand and agreed that there are grounds for concluding an agreement and organizing cooperation. And we signed an agreement with the Chairman of the State Assembly of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Alexey Eremeev. Moreover, this is not at all a model agreement.
Friends from the Amur region helped us a lot at the stage of forming municipal districts. We are grateful to the Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the Amur region, Konstantin Dyakonov. The head of our specialized committee, Igor Gudin, went there on a business trip, met with the leaders of the formed districts and delved into the organizational details. And this has served its purpose: the process of transforming the municipalities of our region is proceeding smoothly.
Interparliamentary agreements are not only a promise to share information (with modern means of communication this is not difficult), but also the holding of joint events. For example, council meetings. What is done together gains weight and significance because it covers the interests of a wider circle, of several regions.
Personal contacts of the heads of parliament are also useful. For example, in January I spoke with the head of the Legislative Assembly of the city of Sevastopol, Vladimir Nemtsev, and he gave me very important advice. Perhaps in the future we will reach an agreement with the people of Sevastopol. It was interesting to work with an exceptionally experienced representative of public authority – the head of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea, Vladimir Konstantinov.
All this opens up a direct contact for interaction between regional legislative bodies.
At the May meeting of the Far East and Transbaikalia Parliamentary Association, an agreement on cooperation was signed between the regional Legislative Duma and the People’s Council of the DPR. What are the features of this agreement?
Irina Zikunova: Our mission is to help the returned regions of the Russian Federation join the general legislative agenda and assist in the development of regulations. In regional legislation, including regulatory norms, much can and still needs to be resolved: some things can be simplified, others can be made more feasible and constructive.
The Chairman of the People’s Council of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Artem Zhoga, and I signed an agreement and are sincerely open to cooperation. Our task, first of all, is to contribute to the formation and development of the DPR’s legislation, to share forms of organization of the work of the legislative body. In our Duma we have many forms of activity, including parliamentary control and parliamentary debate. Now the Donetsk People’s Republic is developing and developing its legislation, and accordingly all Russian regions are helping.
The international contacts of the Khabarovsk Legislative Duma have intensified recently. There were official visits to the Chinese provinces of Heilongjiang and Guangdong, and a meeting with North Korean diplomats. What useful experience do the Khabarovsk deputies gain from such contacts?
Irina Zikunova: The conclusion of international parliamentary agreements was not at all accidental: there was mutual interest on the part of both China and Russia.
In this matter, we are inspired, first of all, by the tasks assigned by the Federation Council. In the Federation Council, I am included in the Council of Legislators for International Parliamentary Activities, because I am a representative of the border region, and the Federation Council is also involved in organizing international relations between regional parliaments and symmetrical structures of adjacent states.
Once a task has been set, it must be solved. And our Legislative Duma has started working on reaching an agreement with Heilongjiang Province, our neighbour, the border territory, whose cooperation is most favourable due to the factor of proximity of transport. The second province we chose for the treaty is Guangdong. It is the richest and most entrepreneurial province of the People’s Republic of China with a population of 126 million people. Ten percent of China’s GDP is produced in this province.
In October last year, cooperation agreements were signed between the Legislative Duma of the Khabarovsk Territory and the Standing Committees of the People’s Congresses of Heilongjiang and Guangdong provinces. Their aim is to promote the formation of legislation that will promote international socio-economic relations, exchange experience in parliamentary activities, expand trade and economic cooperation and connections between residents of the regions, protect the interests of participants in trade and economic relations, develop the digital economy and high-tech production, and simplify mutual exchanges.
Our relations are, in essence, parliamentary diplomacy. We, from the Russian Federation and our Chinese friends, are ambassadors not only of common citizenship and culture, but also ambassadors of democracy building, revealing and conveying the essence of our citizens’ expectations, our strategies, the intentions of public authorities and forming a friendly and objective bond of helping and promoting entrepreneurship to ensure that it enters into deeper international cooperation.
The regional legislation of the Khabarovsk Territory contains norms that make international interaction fruitful and productive. Many laws have already been adopted in order to attract investors to carry out their activities taking into account our capabilities and interests. There are budgetary norms related to the financing of programs to promote products and services of the Khabarovsk Territory through exhibition, export and congress activities. We, as deputies, must be familiar with economic processes in order to be able to adopt appropriate norms and correctly ask the government how they are being implemented.
Visits to Chinese provinces had the same purpose of acquiring information. In Guangdong we met with the business community, it is very active there, there is a really strong entrepreneurial spirit in this province. Business there is rich and there are serious investment opportunities. But it is necessary to understand that investment is trust. And abroad we promote the image of Russia and in particular of the Khabarovsk region as a reliable partner, as a region that can be reached with investments. But at the same time, we persistently pursue the understanding that Russia has its own strategy for economic development, technological sovereignty and the development of technological breakthroughs, and this should also be taken into account.
At meetings in Chinese provinces, we proposed investing in joint ventures, which the Russian side would support with the benefits and advantages provided for by our legislation. Chinese businessmen have raised questions about transport tariffs.
There we also met with the deputies in order, perhaps, to gain some experience from them in organizing the activities of our Duma. Their ways of working are almost the same as ours, but the connection between the deputies and the people is much closer. There are no two sides: the deputy and the voter. Together they represent the interests of the people and those whose interests they represent. This unity gives rise to absolute mutual trust. We can learn this from our Chinese friends.
How are interparliamentary ties established and strengthened at the municipal level? What role did the Legislative Duma of the Khabarovsk Territory play in this?
Irina Zikunova: The Duma is an integrator, a unifier of our meetings of deputies on the platform of the Council of Chairmen of Representative Bodies of Municipal Entities, of which all of them are members. And we hold meetings of the council on a quarterly basis, and this happens quite often.
Meetings do not necessarily take place in the regional parliament. In the regions we have a form of work such as the Days of the Legislative Duma and we began to coincide with these trips and meetings of the council. Thus, the Council of Presidents met in the Lazo district, in the Komsomolsky, Amur and Solnechny districts. It turns out very well. This collaboration is an opportunity to calibrate common decisions and initiatives. This is an opportunity to learn and share experiences. This is an opportunity, through the leadership of a representative body, to directly convey to public authorities the needs, requests and expectations of citizens and receive an honest answer, whether this can be resolved today or not.
There are many sensible and good proposals coming from the municipal level. There is one postulate in management: real power is not concentrated at the top, which is far from the consumer, but in the lower management levels at the middle and lower levels, at the front, as they say. This truth is not new, nor is it new, even for the system of public power. Because it is the heads of municipal districts, the presidents of the assemblies of deputies who are the spokespersons of the reputation of the authorities, of their affairs and, in general, of everything that happens on the ground.
You can pump a ton of money from the top – from the regional budget, from the federal treasury, come up with the most amazing initiatives, but if the municipalities do not follow up, are not honest, do not pass on people’s requests, are not zealous as owners, are not open to citizens, then nothing will work out for them. Your decisions will not be implemented. The power to manage the public system is concentrated at the bottom. Therefore, people who work in municipalities are very valuable personnel. I respect them very much and thank them for what they have done for the Duma. And I am very glad that such valuable people work in the Khabarovsk Territory.
