NNA - Speaker of the Arab Parliament, Adel bin Abdul Rahman Al-Asoumi, discussed with the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Tulia Ackson, ways to enhance cooperation between the Arab Parliament and the Union, based on the memorandum of understanding signed between both sides that includes many areas of cooperation, most importantly activating the role of parliamentary diplomacy.

Building the capabilities of parliamentarians, empowering women and youth, and enhancing the role of parliamentarians in combating terrorism also featured highly during their discussions.

The encounter came on the sidelines of the meetings of the 148th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which was held in Geneva between March 23 & 27.

During their talks, Al-Asoumi stressed the importance of Arab countries hosting more IPU meetings and having greater representation in the main bodies of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, based on the important voting bloc that Arab parliaments represent within the Union.

In turn, Ackson emphasized that “the Arab Parliament plays an active and important role in the work of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and represents the interests of an important segment of Arab parliaments,” expressing her aspiration to activate cooperation mechanisms with the Arab Parliament in many areas that serve to strengthen the role of parliamentary diplomacy.

===========R.Sh.