(MENAFN- AzerNews) The Second conference of the Parliamentary Network of the
Non-Aligned Movement has taken place in Manama, Bahrain, Azernews
reports citing the press and public relations department of the
Milli Majlis.
According to the information from the Milli Majlis, over 300
delegates, amongst them speakers of more than twenty parliaments
and in excess of 60 delegations participated in the event.
The Chair of the Milli Majlis/NAM Parliamentary network Sahiba
Gafarova hailed the delegations and delivered the opening
speech.
She noted that the NAM Parliamentary Network is at the fore as
one of the more substantial outcomes of the efforts made by
Azerbaijan, the Movement's Chairing State, to ensure its
institutional growth, and recalled the decision at the NAM Summit
Meeting in Baku in October 2019 to broaden and deepen co-operation
amongst the Member Parliaments.
She emphasized that the NAM Parliamentary Network had been
established on the sidelines of the 143rd IPU Assembly in November
2021 pursuant to the initiative of Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev.
The Statute on Working Modalities of the Network and the Baku
Declaration was adopted, the official logo and flag of the Network
were chosen and the Chair and three Vice-Chairs of the Network were
elected for three-year tenures during the Baku Conference.
She underscored that the promotion of the values and principles
of the NAM through strengthening solidarity and cooperation and
developing institutional dialogue with other organizations had been
an equally important subject broached at those meetings.
Consequently, the Network has already elaborated mechanisms of
cooperation with such inter-parliamentary institutions as the Asian
Parliamentary Assembly, the Arab Parliament, the OIC Parliamentary
Union, the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic States, and the ASEAN
Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, and has also acquired observer status
in them. The work continues now to broaden those frameworks,
according to Sahiba Gafarova.
She noted that as regards bilateral cooperation, Azerbaijan's
Milli Majlis has formed parliamentary friendship groups with the
legislatures of 16 NAM Member States, which spells out our goal of
continuing the strengthening of cooperation with all the Movement
parliaments.
Saying that the 2nd Conference of the Network was dedicated to
parliamentary support to the national and global efforts on
post-pandemic recovery, Speaker Gafarova mentioned, a proposal,
made at the 2 March Summit Meeting in Baku to create a NAM Contact
Group against COVID-19.
Sahiba Gafarova stressed that one of the most practical outcomes
of the Summit-Level Meeting was the declaration by President Aliyev
of two Global Calls to support the post-pandemic recovery in Africa
and Small Island Developing States. Azerbaijan as the first donor
has allocated 1 million US dollars for both Global Calls in line
with this initiative.
The Azerbaijani Chairmanship of the Network proposed the
establishment of a Parliamentary Support Group for post-pandemic
global recovery initiatives of the NAM Chairmanship seeking to
secure support and promotion by parliamentary means for those two
Global Calls within the NAM and globally alike.
She went further to emphasize that the problem of
neo-colonialism was another important issue requiring attention.
Whilst the NAM has always been unanimous on this issue, France's
rejection of the unquestionable sovereignty of the Union of Comoros
over the island of Mayotte as well as its violation of the rights
of the New Caledonian people and other peoples in the French
overseas territories show that this dangerous tendency is,
actually, on the rise. Sahiba Gafarova believes that the NAM
parliaments should stand firm against any act in such a disgraceful
strain and combine efforts with the Member Governments to fend it
off.
The 2nd NAM PN Conference also focuses on exchanging views on
further institutionalization of the Parliamentary Network.
She said that given consideration of the communications received
from a number of Member Parliaments, the Azerbaijani Chairmanship
proposed several amendments to the Statute on Working Modalities.
It is believed that developing and improving the working methods of
the Network further is an important component of its institutional
formation and effective operation.
Concluding her speech, the Chair of the Milli Majlis shared with
the participants of the Conference her firm belief that the
Parliamentary Network is on the way to becoming an important asset
for the promotion of ideals and principles of the NAM as well as of
multilateralism, dialogue, and interparliamentary co-operation.
The decisions 'On Establishing the NAM PN Parliamentary Group of
Support for Post-Pandemic Global Recovery Initiatives of the NAM
Chairmanship', 'On Granting of the Observer Status to International
Parliamentary Organisations in the Parliamentary Network of the
Non-Aligned Movement' and 'On Amending the Working Modalities of
the NAM PN' as well as the Manama Declaration was passed at the
Conference.
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