Russian State Duma delegation to visit India in early Dec - speaker

MOSCOW. Nov 25 (Interfax) - The State Duma is actively interacting with foreign parliaments, and a number of meetings, including a Russian delegation's visit to India, are planned for the near future, State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said.

"We have numerous partners and interact with them. A delegation led by the Pakistani parliament speaker will pay us a visit as early as next week. Our colleagues from South Ossetia will also be visiting. In turn, we are planning to visit India in early December," Volodin said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 television channel (VGTRK).

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will hold a meeting before the end of this year, and "parliament speakers from friendly states, allies and CSTO partners will come" to Russia, Volodin said.

"We will hold a meeting of the Belarus-Russia Parliamentary Assembly in December to discuss the Union State budget for next year," he said.

A conference of political factions of foreign parliaments will be held next week at the State Duma's initiative: they annually gather in Russia to discuss interaction between factions, Volodin said.

Inter-parliamentary cooperation "is very active, as it was before," he said.

"As you can see, our agenda for the remaining period is very busy. If there is a wish to work, it can always be found, especially when problems need to be solved. We are adjusting our formats to the discussion of problems. The State Duma contributes to the national development agenda and implements the presidential address," Volodin said.