MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Switzerland wants closer parliamentary-level cooperation with Russia, and to finalize a number of cooperation agreements between the countries' regions, Filipino Lombardi, a lawmaker from the Swiss Christian Democratic People's Party and a co-chair of the Swiss-Russian friendship group, said Monday.
"There are groups of friendship between countries, which are built on true friendship between its members, our group of friendship is one of them. We want to develop our relations not only at the federal and parliamentary level, but also at the regional level. That is why our delegation consists of President of the Council of Canton of Ticino Manuele Bertoli," Lombardi said.
Moreover, Filipino Lombardi expressed his hope for the Russian Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) delegation's full return to the organization.
"We hope for a full-fledged return of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. We hope that some steps will be taken in the coming months from both sides in this regard," Lombardi said.
The Swiss lawmaker also noted the close cooperation two states had on the parliamentary level.
According to Lombardi, Russia and Switzerland are close allies within the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA), which is why the official expressed his regret over the fact the Russian representative to the OSCE PA had not been elected as a vice-president of the Assembly at the summer session in Minsk.
