HE the Speaker of the Advisory Council Ahmed bin Abdulla bin Zaid al-Mahmoud on Thursday said the Council has made all necessary arrangements for the success of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly and Related Meetings, in order to achieve results that would support the IPU on its path to strengthening democracy and sustainable development.
HE al-Mahmoud welcomed IPU president Gabriela Cuevas Barron and members of the union's Executive Committee, who met in Doha on Thursday in preparation for the Assembly and meetings that kick off on Saturday.
HE the Speaker said he is ready to co-operate with the committee and provide all that is required to make the IPU Doha event successful, noting that he wants to make it a milestone in the organisation's history, Qatar News Agency reported.
Further, he expressed the hope that participants of the event would have the chance to learn about Qatar's heritage and the generosity of its people, and also acquaint themselves with the renaissance witnessed by Qatar in all fields thanks to the wise policies of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
Besides HE al-Mahmoud and Cuevas Barron, who is also the head of the IPU Executive Committee, the meeting was attended by IPU secretary-general Martin Chungong.
Earlier, HE al-Mahmoud had stressed that Qatar’s hosting of the IPU meeting and the wide participation reflected the appreciation and respect of the IPU and parliaments of the world, their presidents and representatives, for His Highness the Amir and his wise leadership, as well as the government and people of Qatar.
Some 80 parliaments and more than 2,270 parliamentarians from 160 countries are participating in the event, it was revealed at a press conference recently. With this, the IPU Doha meet will see the largest participation of delegates in the history of its meetings outside the organisation's headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Advisory Council Speaker also said that the focus of the general debate will be 'Parliaments as Platforms for Enhancing Education for Peace, Security and the Rule of Law'. He said the topic was chosen in co-ordination between the Advisory Council and the IPU and its secretariat.
The event will include both closed and open meetings with various groups, categorised according to regions such as the Latin American Group, Asian Group, Arab Group, African and European Group, among other interrelated groups.
The 140th IPU Assembly and Related Meetings will be held at Sheraton Doha.
