Emirati Parliamentary Division Participates In Virtual Seminar Organised By IPU

Emirati Parliamentary Division participates in virtual seminar organised by IPU

ABU DHABI, (Pakistan Point News - 20th Sep, 2020) The Emirati Parliamentary Division participated in a virtual seminar, entitled, "Parliaments and the United Nations: The Road Forward," organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, IPU, in cooperation with the United Nations, UN.

The division was represented by Ali Jassim, Member of the Federal National Council, FNC, on behalf of Saqr Ghobash, Speaker of the FNC.

During the seminar, held via video conferencing and attended by permanent representatives to the UN and heads of parliaments, the main messages of the Fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments, 5WCSP, which was hosted by the IPU and the Austrian Parliament on 19th and 20th August, 2020, were declared.

Under the framework of the current UN reforms, the seminar’s participants also discussed how to involve the voices of people representing parliaments and the IPU in the UN’s decision-making processes, as well as how to reinforce the UN’s multilateral system.

They then discussed ways of improving the cooperation and coordination between the UN and the IPU in meeting international obligations related to peace, sustainable development, democracy and human rights.

Jassem stressed the importance of maintaining a parliamentary dimension to the work of the UN, which should the voice of the world’s governments and peoples.

He also pointed out that the global pandemic has proven the fact that the world should operate as a large human family, because pandemics do not recognise borders, ethnicities and religions, therefore, parliaments should have an influential voice in regional and international organisations.

The post-COVID-19 world, through the leading role of parliaments, should focus on several key topics, such as the establishment of an international food security system to address urgent challenges, especially as a report by the Food and Agricultural Organisation, FAO, suggested that over 265 million people are facing hunger due to the pandemic, he added.

Jassem explained that there should be a joint framework for developing and distributing the coronavirus vaccine and ensuring its full availability while calling on those concerned to utilise artificial intelligence and big data to address the negative effects of global pandemics on the health sector.

He then thanked Gabriela Cuevas Barron, President of the IPU, Volkan Bozkir, President of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, and Jacob Francis Mudenda, Speaker of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe, for participating in the seminar.