Fifth meeting of the heads of G8 parliaments

On September 15 to 17, Saint Petersburg is hosting the Fifth Meeting of the Heads of G8 Parliaments.

Participants in the summit activities:

Boris Gryzlov, Speaker of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation - Chairman of the meeting;
Michael Martin, Speaker of the House of Commons, Parliament of the Great Britain;
Norbert Lammert, President of the Bundestag, Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany;
Pierluigi Castagnetti, First Deputy Head of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament;
Peter Milliken, Speaker of House of Commons, Parliament of Canada;
J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress;
Yves Bur, Vice-President of the National Assembly of the Parliament of France;
Yohei Kono, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Japanese Parliament.

The Fifth Meeting of the Heads of G8 Parliaments will be called to order at 9.30 a.m. on September 16 in the Tavrichesky Palace with an opening remarks by Boris Gryzlov, Speaker of the State Duma of the FA of the RF.
The heads of parliament will discuss the following subject - Legislative response to new threats and challenges. Deliberations will be led off with a report by J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the US Congress.

Second topic submitted for discussion is as follows - International law framework for global energy security. Report by Norbert Lammert, President of the Bundestag of the FRG Parliament.

Press briefings of the heads of parliaments with accredited journalists are scheduled to take place in the Ekaterininsky Hall of the Tavrichesky Palace throughout the day.

8.50-9 a.m. - press appearance of Boris Gryzlov, Speaker of the State Duma of the FA of the RF.

A press briefing of A.A. Kozlovsky, Deputy Co-Chairman of the Interparliamentary Group of the Russian Federation, is scheduled to take place at the Press Center at 11 a.m. with a possible participation of heads of parliaments.

 K.I. Kosachev, Head of the State Duma Committee on international affairs, is meeting journalists at 1.00 p.m. at the Press Center.

The Speaker of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Boris Gryzlov and the heads of G8 parliaments will gather in the Ekaterininsky Hall to make a press statement at 4.45 p.m. following the end of their meeting.

The informal programme meetings are to take place on September 15 to 17 with parliamentarians discussing issues of common interest.

On September 15, on the eve of the Fifth Meeting, the heads of G8 parliaments visited historical sites in Saint Petersburg.

An official reception was held on the behalf of Valentina I. Matvienko, Governor of Saint Petersburg.

Also, a number of bilateral meetings took place.
 
Upon the end of the summit on September 16, the heads of parliaments attend an official reception held in the Ekaterininsky Palace in Tsarskoe Selo on the behalf of the Speaker of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Boris V. Gryzlov.

An excursion to the Petergof palace and park as well as a working lunch of the delegations of the G8 parliaments are to take place on September 17.