FOLLOW US
A. Svintsov: Address to World Summit 2017
Written by Hon. Andrey Svintsov, Member of Parliament, Russian State Duma
Sunday, February 5, 2017
Address to World Summit 2017, Seoul, Korea, February 1 to 5, 2017
(The following paper was contributed by Hon. Andrey Svintsov, MP, Russian State Duma on the occasion of the World Summit 2017.)
Inter-Parliamentary Community: Global Challenges and Information Policy
I would like to welcome the participants of this large-scale international forum in the city of Seoul and congratulate all who are present in this hall, as well as those who are not attending but share our ideas. History is developing right before our eyes. We are witnesses to a significant event—establishing an authoritative international inter-parliamentary organization in defense of peace.
I represent the State Duma of the Russian Federation — the lower house of the Russian Parliament. I am the vice chairman of the Committee for Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications. I was elected to the State Duma for a second time; therefore, I have multifaceted experiences with the Parliament.
We live in an age of digital technologies and information warfare. The political system of most countries should be called not a democracy but a media-cracy. Today the world is ruled not by politicians; it is ruled by information technology. Understanding the importance of the correct systematic and humane media policy for all states inspired me to initiate the creation of independent television. I call this organization the LDPR TV, in honor of the party which I represent (editor’s note: formerly the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia).
I am ready to offer practical and understandable measures and concrete steps to achieve the goal for which we are gathered—world peace on the earth. Someone might say that this is utopian and that there has never been peace on earth. We are attending this conference because we feel responsibility before the future and past generations, our own conscience and God. I am determined that we need to create a single information area for our inter-parliamentary community on the basis of the principles of humanity, trust and cooperation. How can this goal be accomplished?
Step one: an inventory of resources. All parliaments of the world possess their information support. We also need to make an inventory of our resources. Find out the level of information to support our parliamentarians united by a common global goal—protection of peace on earth. In my view, information support comprises four main components: a technical tool, a professional team of experts, a social base and, finally, an ideology and mission, that is, principles and strategies. As the author of the proposal, I would begin with my own country, Russia, and specifically with an inventory of the resources possessed by the Russian parliamentarians who support the idea of world peace.
Step two: creation of a universal information news unit and expert analysis on protection of the world, which will be systematically and regularly presented in our resource inventory. This content, intelligence and ideology must be prepared in accordance with the specific requirements of our time. We must respond flexibly to the challenges of history. Today, in the era of permanent conflicts, global challenges, universal confusion and uncertainty, the parliamentarians, people of goodwill representing the interests of different countries, have to agree among themselves and reach a consensus in solving the most important task—protecting peace on our planet.
Step three: creation of a unified information platform of parliamentarians for peace. The most urgent task is to recruit global players, countries and parliamentarians who are opinion leaders and technology holders. In my opinion, these include: South Korea, Russia, the United States, Japan, India and China. These countries should delegate competent experts to create a unified platform and database of information in support of Parliamentarians for Peace (abbreviated UMP—a unified media platform). There must be an exchange of experience, opinion and proposals to prepare a road map for the creation and functioning of UMP.
To implement these measures we will need resources and, above all, our common political will. Everything else, I am convinced, will follow. We must first strive for this ideal, formulate our lofty mission, and then the rest will follow. The volunteers, sponsors and resources will surely appear. Our Russian delegation is open to dialogue, cooperation and discussion. I am willing to provide our television channel LDPR TV as a platform. Let us work together. Together we are strong because the interests and aspirations of our peoples and our countries give us inexhaustible resources of goodwill.
To go to the 2017 World Summit Conference Schedule, click here.