PSKOV. Sept 4 (Interfax) - The next meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Russia-Belarus Union State will take place in Smolensk, Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said.
"We plan to hold a session of the Parliamentary Assembly in Smolensk before the end of the year," Volodin told reporters on Monday.
On-site meetings of the assembly "help better assess the situation, especially in the border regions of our states," he said.
"We have agreed not to propose issues 'just for the sake of it' for the next session. It is necessary to work to achieve the ultimate result, and, as the experience of the sessions in Pskov and earlier in Vitebsk showed, it is possible," he said.
The Russian city of Pskov hosted an expanded meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Russia-Belarus Union State on Monday. Its participants discussed a number of issues, including the priorities of the development of interregional and border cooperation between Russia and Belarus, and issues concerning the drafting of the Union State's budget in the initial "zero reading", Volodin said.
The participants also discussed the creation of a unified legal framework while formulating common standards for labor relations within the Russia-Belarus Union State without which integration cannot be considered, he said.
The Parliamentary Assembly's meeting has again been hosted by a border region. Previously, such events took place in Bryansk and Vitebsk.