The Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, in its 12th legislature, will establish 54 parliamentary friendship groups with various countries. The draft resolution outlining the numerical and nominal composition of the delegations was adopted with the vote of 70 deputies, TRIBUNA reports.

According to the principle of proportionality, 34 friendship groups will be led by deputies from the parliamentary majority, while the remaining 20 will be chaired by representatives of the opposition.

As in the previous legislature, the largest friendship group will be the one with Romania. It is chaired by Veronica Roșca, deputy from the “Party of Action and Solidarity” faction, and includes 55 members of Parliament.

Unlike the previous term, no friendship groups have been created with the Russian Federation or Belarus. The Foreign Policy Committee announced the suspension of parliamentary friendship groups with Russia and Belarus for the duration of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

For the first time, the legislature will also establish separate friendship groups with countries from Central Asia.

According to parliamentary procedure, the nominal composition of the friendship groups is determined based on the preferences expressed by deputies, while the distribution of chairperson roles is made in accordance with the proportional representation of political parties in Parliament.