The Shura Council State of Qatar

HE Speaker of the Shura Council Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud participated in the five-party meeting that the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) held on Tuesday via video conferencing. The participants in the meeting were HE Speaker of the Shura Council as the President of the 140th IPU General Assembly, held in Doha in April 2019, Mladen Grujic, representing HE Maja Gojkovic, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, President of the 141st IPU General Assembly, held in Belgrade in October 2019, HE Donatille Mukabalisa Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of Rwanda and President of the 142nd IPU General Assembly to be held in Kigali in October, HE President of IPU Gabriela Cuevas Barron, and HE Secretary-General of IPU Martin Chungong.

The meeting, which was addressed by HE Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres, discussed ways to enhance cooperation between the parliaments of the countries of the world to achieve sustainable development and maintain international peace and security. It also discussed the challenges facing the world today due to the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19), and the role of parliaments in addressing this pandemic and limiting its health, economic, and social impacts.

The five-party meeting included the heads of the geopolitical groups of the IPU, including HE Abubakar Hassan Fulata, member of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Nigeria as representative of the African Group, HE President of the Senate of the Philippines Vicente Sotto III as representative of the Asia Pacific Group, HE Konstantin Kosachev, member of Russian Federation Council on behalf of the Eurasia Group, HE Blas Llano, President of the National Congress of the Republic of Paraguay as representative of the Latin America and the Caribbean Group, and HE Duarte Pacheco, member of the Assembly of the Portuguese Republic, on behalf of the Twelve Plus Group representing European countries, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

On the sidelines of the meeting, HE the Speaker of the Shura Council participated in IPU celebration of the International Day of Parliamentarism and the celebration of the 131st anniversary of IPU, as well as the conclusion of celebrations of the 130th anniversary of the founding of the IPU, where IPU launched anniversary book on International Day of Parliamentarism containing an article of HE Speaker of the Shura Council praising the distinguished relations between the Shura Council and the IPU