29 November 2016

The Special Commission on Establishing the Asian Parliament met today to discuss the mechanism to transform the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) into the Asian Parliament (AP). The meeting was held in the afternoon of 29th November 2016 during which the parliament of the Kingdom of Cambodia is hosting the 9th plenary session of the APA in Siem Reap province.

H.E. Mr. Mian Raza RABBANI, President of the Pakistan Senate, who chaired the meeting, has raised the issue of forming the Asian parliament with the participation of the delegations from 8 countries in Asia, stressing that we need more time to achieve this goal.

The discussion on the creation of the Asian parliament has drawn greater attention from APA participants, with many countries expressing their views over the issue.

Generally, the majority of APA members agreed on the aim of establishing the Asian Parliament that will gives more influence and effective performance to Asia, which is home to more than half the world population. In addition, if we look at other some parliamentary organizations in Europe, for instance, the IPU and the EU and so forth, they use the power of parliamentary mechanisms to act in an effective manner. But before forming such a big regional legislative body, we need much more time.

Although member parliaments from APA member countries agreed to establish the Asian parliament, some members have raised their concerns and difficulties over appropriate timing for the Asian parliament, citing the diversity of cultures of countries in the region. Therefore, this issue should be discussed and consulted between all member parliaments and governments in Asia.

Speaking in the name of the host parliament, H.E. Mr. Nhem Thavy, the representative of the Cambodian parliament, who participated in the meeting, highly evaluated this initiative. Our goal is to build peace and promote development in Asia, he said.
Lastly, he raised some experience learned from the IPU, saying that in order to establish the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the world organization of parliaments, for example, we took more than five decades, whereas Asia needs to make greater efforts to achieve this goal in this 21st century even though we have different cultures. Once we reach our goal, the Asian Parliament will provide a great platform for Asia. We will enjoy overwhelming majority in the world.

Article and photos by courtesy of the Information Department