Russian Sherpa outlines further G8 meetings under Russia’s presidency

September 17

Russian Sherpa Igor Shuvalov told reporters about further ministerial and expert meetings due to be held later this year under Russia's G8 presidency.

"The St. Petersburg summit was successful and it is over, but our presidency will last until December 31, and we will have some more ministerial and expert meetings later this year," he recalled.

He described the parliamentary G8 meeting as one of the most important events held during Russia's G8 presidency.

"The G8 will not be entirely successful without a proactive involvement of lawmakers," he said, citing a need to adopt appropriate national laws and promising on behalf of Russia that Moscow would do that fast enough.

Russian State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov called the G8 parliamentary meeting in St. Petersburg "a summit of laws," following the heads-of-state "summit of ideas." This is because the G8 leaders met to make decisions, while lawmakers gathered to discuss how these decisions could be translated into laws, he explained.