Senate chairman Raza Rabbani. PHOTO: AFP
ISLAMABAD: The meeting of the Special Committee on Creation of Asian Parliament (SCCAP) and Asian Parliamentary Assembly’s (APA) Standing Committee on Political Affairs (SCPA) will start here on Monday (today).
The event, scheduled to last till Friday (March 17), would be formally inaugurated by the Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani and Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Tuesday (tomorrow).
More than 70 delegates from 23 countries, including members of parliament and speakers, are expected to participate in this meeting being hosted by the Senate, a statement issued by the Senate Secretariat said.
Owing to success of Pakistan’s parliamentary diplomacy, more than 23 countries are participating in the standing committee’s meeting of the APA – more than the number of countries in the APA General Assembly held in other countries.
Such an overwhelming response from the Asian countries is a testimony to the active participation of the Senate in the affairs of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly. Pakistan is the vice-president of the APA and chairperson of the special committee of the Asian Parliament.
During the event, a number of resolutions are expected to be adopted by the SCCAP and SCPA.
Pakistan is likely to present a number of resolutions, including one relating to the creation of the Asian Parliament.
Asian Parliamentary Assembly dates back to September 1999 when a group of Asian Parliamentarians decided to join hands for promoting peace and human rights in Dhaka, Bangladesh by setting up the Association of Asian Parliaments for Peace (AAPP) which was later converted to APA in 2004.
Since its inception, the Senate played an active role to make the forum vibrant and has injected dynamism, promoting the ideals of regional integration and prosperity of the Asian region.
Pakistan also held the presidency of this regional forum for two consecutive years and successfully hosted two plenary sessions of the forum in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
The proposal of creation of Asian Parliament was also floated by the Senate in the seventh plenary session which was held in Lahore.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 13th, 2017.
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