The Shura Council State of Qatar

HE Speaker of the Shura Council Hassan bin Abdullah Al Ghanim affirmed the State of Qatar’s strong commitment to supporting parliamentary work at both the regional and international levels, and its continued keenness to provide effective platforms for dialogue, consultation, and the exchange of expertise among Asian parliaments.

In a speech delivered at the opening of the meeting of the Standing Committee on Budget and Planning of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly, hosted in Doha today, His Excellency noted the wide participation of member states in the committee’s work. He emphasized that this supports the progress of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly, which serves as a unifying framework for enhancing parliamentary cooperation in Asia.

HE the Speaker of the Shura Council pointed out that the meeting is being held amid rapidly evolving regional and international challenges, which necessitate strengthening financial planning efficiency, consolidating the principles of transparency, accountability, and good governance, and ensuring sound resource management.

These measures, he said, are essential to guaranteeing the sustainability of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly’s work and enabling it to fulfill its active parliamentary role in promoting Asian cooperation.

His Excellency praised the efforts of the members of the Budget and Planning Committee and the effectiveness of its previous meetings, during which important decisions were adopted. These included the Doha meeting held in November last year, where participants approved the adoption of a unified and equal membership fee for all member states. The committee also adopted a proposal to amend certain provisions of the Assembly’s statute, including the voting mechanism, granting each member state one vote only on draft resolutions and approving decisions by majority rather than consensus. He described this as an important step toward enhancing fairness, ensuring balanced participation in decision-making, and contributing to the development and activation of parliamentary work within the Assembly.

HE the Shura Council Speaker stressed the importance of this parliamentary bloc as an effective framework for unifying visions and coordinating positions among Asian parliaments in various regional and international parliamentary forums.

At the outset of his speech, His Excellency welcomed the participants and expressed his wishes for the success of the meeting, once again hosted by Doha, in achieving its intended objectives and issuing recommendations and decisions that strengthen Asian parliamentary action, particularly in the field of budget and planning.

For their part, HE Secretary-General of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly Mohammad Reza Majidi, HE Representative of the Assembly’s President Dr. Rizvan Oglu Nabiyev, and HE Vice President of the Assembly Boris Chernyshov praised in their remarks during the opening session on Qatar’s diplomatic and humanitarian efforts and its role at both the regional and international levels.

In this context, they commended the support and cooperation of the Shura Council with various parliamentary organizations and legislative councils, which contribute to strengthening parliamentary diplomacy in Asia.

They also called for enhanced cooperation and joint parliamentary action among the parliaments of the Assembly’s member states, and for leveraging Asia’s exceptional global standing, given its geopolitical weight and significant economic and human potential.

Prior to the start of the meeting’s proceedings, HE the Speaker of the Shura Council met with the heads of the participating parliamentary delegations, welcomed them, and expressed his hope that their meeting would contribute to supporting joint parliamentary work and strengthening the role of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly in advancing sustainable development efforts across the Asian continent. 

HE Member of the Shura Council, Vice President of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA), Chairman of APA's Standing Committee on Budget and Planning Eng. Ahmed bin Hitmi Al Hitmi affirmed that the Standing Committee's meeting in Doha underscores the APA's commitment to developing its institutional performance, improving its working mechanisms, and ensuring its financial and administrative sustainability, to enable it to carry out its duties in the best way possible.

Presiding over the Standing Committee's general session, His Excellency noted the APA's significant recent accomplishments and said that the current period calls for a serious evaluation of and reflect on the APA's journey, accompanied by a clear future vision that reflects the advancement of the Asian parliamentary experience and its ability to achieve institutional development and respond to regional and international changes.

In this context, HE Eng. Al Hitmi called for having an in-depth and responsible discussion on the possibility of reviewing and amending articles related to the APA standing committees' mechanisms of drafting and passing resolutions, with the aim of enhancing draft resolution quality, ensuring their implementability, avoiding repetition, and enhancing focus on priority issues, thereby positively reflecting on the APA's reputation and the effectiveness of its outcomes.

The general session discussed a number of items on the agenda, most notably proposed amendments to the APA Charter's articles, in addition to reviewing the APA Secretary-General's report, which addresses the latest developments and key achievements related to the Standing Committee's work, as well as a draft resolution on planning the APA's budget and setting the 2026 budget.

Following extensive deliberations, the general session concluded with participants passing both the 2026 APA budget and the Shura Council's proposal to amend the articles pertaining to submitting and approving draft resolutions, a step that improves the APA's parliamentary work.

On the sidelines of the Standing Committee's meeting, the APA's bureau held a meeting to look into the standing committee's draft resolutions, in preparation for submitting them to the APA during its General Assembly meeting to be held in the Bahraini capital, Manama, next year.