A meeting of the Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia on Culture, Science and Education will take place today in Minsk in the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus.

The event will welcome Representatives of the Permanent Committee of the Union State, the Ministries of Culture of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, and the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation.

Parliamentarians will be presented with information on the preliminary results of the execution of the Union State budget for 2023 in the areas of activity of the Parliamentary Assembly Commission on Culture, Science and Education, including developments on new projects and activities of the Union State based on the proposals of the commission.

The meeting participants will discuss the possibility of developing a Union State project to finance the restoration and repair works of the sculpture “Stand to the death!” on the territory of the Memorial complex “Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad” on Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd.

This proposal was initiated by the Parliamentary Assembly Commission on Budget, Taxes and Financial Market at the Commission meeting in September 2023 in Volgograd.

Deputies - members of the Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly suggested that the relevant commissions of the Parliamentary Assembly consider the possibility of providing assistance in the implementation of joint projects to preserve the historical memory of the events of the Great Patriotic War with the involvement of search movements, youth organizations, as well as the Volgograd public organization "Belarusian Fellowship".

The deputies proposed to the Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly on Culture, Science and Education, as well as the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation to consider the possibility of including a visit to Volgograd during the cultural and educational patriotic event “Memory train” and other joint patriotic events in the territories of the Volgograd region and regions of the Republic of Belarus.

Among other activities parliamentarians supported the intentions of the Volgograd City Administration and the Vitebsk City Executive Committee to agree on the establishment of sister city relations between the cities. The signing of the corresponding document is planned to take place in 2024 as part of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the international movement of twinned regions and the 1050th anniversary of the founding of the city of Vitebsk.

As part of the commission meeting on February 9 at the St. Elisabeth Convent in Minsk of the Minsk Diocese of the Belarusian Orthodox Church, a meeting-dialogue of parliamentarians with Metropolitan of Minsk and Zaslavl, Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus Veniamin is planned on the topic “Preservation and development of Orthodox culture and spiritual and moral values.”