Audit Chamber head meets with British parliamentarians

On Wednesday, the head of the Russian Audit Chamber, Sergei Stepashin, met with Tony Lloyd, the head of the British parliament's group on ties with the Russian Federal Assembly, reported the information and public relations department of the Audit Chamber. Mr. Stepashin was in London attending the 21st Century Audit Management, Opportunities and Challenges international seminar.

"On behalf of his colleagues, Tony Lloyd expressed sorrow and compassion about the recent tragic events in Chechnya, when the republic's president and his supporters were victims, and the hope that the act of terrorism would not hamper the further stabilization of the situation in this Russian region," the report said. (On May 9 during Victory Day celebrations there was a terrorist attack at Grozny stadium.)

The British members of parliament noted that regular meetings of Russian and British leaders contributed to the development of relations between the two countries, the Audit Chamber reported.

Economics is the most important and promising sphere of cooperation.

Interaction between the Russian and British supreme bodies of state financial control creates an even more favorable climate for the development of economic ties, both sides said.

Their cooperation, as was stressed, should be designed for the future, taking into account the requirements of the further diversification of inter-state economic relations, including the investment sphere.

The Audit Chamber also reported that the British parliamentarians were satisfied with cooperation between both countries' financial control agencies within the framework of an international organization of the supreme financial control bodies working group on the fight against money laundering.

This group was created last year on the initiative of the Russian Audit Chamber with the purpose of stopping illegal capital, which is often used to finance international terrorism, from moving across borders.