PAM President, Hon. Pedro Roque and Secretary General, Amb. Sergio Piazzi participated at the 27th Conference of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union, held at the Egyptian Parliament in Cairo, on 5 April 2018. The Conference addressed the current Arab situation; political, social, financial and economic affairs and parliamentary relations.
In his statement, the PAM President congratulated President Sisi on the favourable outcome of the Presidential elections and expressed to the people of Egypt his satisfaction for the transparency of the electoral process, as testified by the PAM’s observation mission during the presidential elections.
Hon. Roque then called on all participants to join forces to ensure that the Palestinian-Israeli peace process is resumed in a concrete way in full respect of the UN Security Council Resolutions, the Oslo Peace Agreements and the Arab Initiative. He continued by stressing the common challenges that PAM and the Arab IPU member countries share, such as socio economic issues, security, the fight against terrorism, as well as violent extremisms, mass migrations, and climate change. Hon Roque concluded by inviting the Arab IPU to sign a MoU with PAM in order to formalize the already existing relations and cooperation between the two Assemblies.
The conference was also attended by the President of the Arab Parliamentary Union, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Kingdom of Morocco, Habib Al Malki, the Speaker of the Egyptian Council of Representatives, Dr. Ali Abdel-Al, and the speakers of the parliaments, councils and heads of regional and international organizations.
The final statement issued at the end of the conference affirmed the centrality of the Palestinian issue for all Arab nations, reiterating their support for the Palestinian people in order to establish an independent State in accordance with the international resolutions and agreements. The statement also stressed the importance of fighting against terrorism in all its forms in the Arab countries, and the support to the Arab countries hosting refugees, and indicated constructive dialogue as a way to resolve disputes and conflicts.
On the margins of the conference, the PAM delegation held bilateral meetings with the Secretary General of the Egyptian Parliament, the Councilor Ahmed Saad Eddin Mohamed, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Morocco and President of the Arab IPU, H.E. Hon. Habib El Malki. The two sides discussed proposals for further cooperation between PAM and the PA-UfM, especially in light of the convergence of the goals of both organizations and the participation of many Mediterranean and European countries in their respective memberships, as well as proposals concerning the establishment of the Permanent Secretariat of the PA-UfM.