Comity of nations: Delegates favour creation of an Asian Parliament

Participants of APA session agree that parliament’s head office should be in Islamabad

LAHORE:

The Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) Executive Council on Monday agreed to the formation of a special committee for the creation of Asian Parliament. The council’s meeting was held on Monday to mark the start of seventh plenary session of the APA.

Around 130 delegates from 25 countries and eight observers are participating in the three-day session. Pakistan’s delegation is led by Leader of the House in Senate, Raja Zafarul Haq and includes Senator Farooq Naek, Senator Sehar Kamran, Senator Jahangir Badar, Senator Nuzhat Sadiq, Senator Syed Tahir Hussain Mashahdi and Senator Farhatullah Babar.



The APA comprises 41 member countries, 17 observer states and eight observer organisations. Senate Chairman Syed Nayyer Hussain Bokhari has been elected its president for two years.

The participating delegates unanimously approved a proposal suggesting that the parliament’s head office should be set up at the Senate Secretariat in Islamabad. They decided that Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Palestine, Jordan, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Syria, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will be its members.

Earlier, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, chairman of the APA Organising Committee, was elected chairman of the Executive Council. He then chaired the council meeting.

The senator told the delegates that Masood Islami was representing Inter-Parliamentary Union Secretary General Nejad Hossenian who could not attend the conference due to some health concerns.

Syed said that after assuming the APA’ presidency, Pakistan has made the assembly an active and vibrant platform to highlight the issues faced by Asia.

Senator Naek also addressed the meeting. He said he hoped that the second meeting of the council would help materialise recommendations of the standing committees as well as the agenda of the ongoing conference.

After speeches by Islami, Syed, Naek and Senate Secretary Amjed Pervez Malik, member countries discussed draft resolutions presented in the session and proposed some amendments.

Leader of Opposition in the Senate Aitezaz Ahsan hosted a lunch in honour of the delegates. He welcomed them to Lahore, saying that the “city likes to debate issues”.

“You are parliamentarians from the fastest growing economic region of the world… this puts enormous responsibility on you. We have to help our respective countries and other nations of Asia to achieve our shared vision of Asia’s prosperity,” he further said.

After the council’s meeting, Syed and Malik held a press briefing to apprise journalists of the APA’s agenda and the draft resolutions. Later, the delegates went on a city tour.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd, 2014.