Speaker meets counterparts taking part in IPU conference
SAINT PETERSBURG: Speaker of the Kuwaiti National Assembly Marzouq Ali Al-Ghanem has met his Egyptian counterpart Dr Ali Abdulal Al-Sayed on sidelines of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)’s 137th conference in this ancient Russian city.
The two sides discussed issues of common interest and coordinating stances at the conference. Separately, he met Speaker of the Cypriot Parliament Dimitris Silluris, discussing coordination during the event. He also met his Iraqi counterpart Dr Selim Al-Jabbouri tackling identical topics.
Meanwhile, Treasurer of the Kuwaiti Parliamentary Caucus Waleed Al Tabtabai said that Kuwait has been practicing democracy, pluralism and respect of human rights for more than five decades. Kuwait is a pioneer of human rights in the Middle East region, Tabtabai told a session of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)’s Committee on Democracy and Human Rights, during the IPU’s 137th Assembly currently held in St. Petersburg, Russia, October 14-18. The session tackled the draft resolution on “Sharing our diversity: the 20th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Democracy.”
“We are proud that our democracy excels our neighbors’. Yet, we are not fully content with the position, and believe there is still need for further democracy and respect of human rights,” he told the meeting.
Multiculturalism is a basis of the international security and stability, Tabtabai said, emphasizing the necessity of supporting the policies and strategies that seek to bolster development, through further social solidarity and respect of human rights and freedoms.
The parliamentary delegations in the meeting agreed on the significance of democracy to preserve human dignity and protect human rights as well as those of minorities. They called for considering democracy as a process that could only be completed through women’s participation in public life.
In the meantime, head of the Russian Senate’s international relations committee Konstantin Kosachev lauded the performance of the Arab parliamentarians attending the Assembly. Kosachev said that the Arab presence is “strong,” and stressed that apart from the parliamentary group, 12+1, no other ones were formed on ideological basis. The conference offers a good chance for the participant delegations to handle disagreements, and other issues of the Arab world.
Referring to an Arab and a Muslim initiative to comprise the Rohingya Muslims’s plight on the Assembly’s agenda, Kosachev said he noticed rising interest in the issue, but it is up to the delegations to decide to include it or not. He believed that such a controversial issue may not enjoy consensus among the participants and could cause divisions. — KUNA