26 states to attend APA meetings in Gwadar

ISLAMABAD: The Senate of Pakistan, the House of Federation, is hosting the first-ever Asian parliamentary representatives at Gwadar, the future hub of Asian trade, in connection with the committee meetings of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) from October 29 to 31.

The committee meetings will host the parliamentary delegates from 26 Asian countries including the Secretary General Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and will deliberate on matters of mutual interest to Asian region in terms of political affairs, economic trade and other regional issues in addition to passing historic declarations and resolutions.

The APA meetings at Gwadar aim at bringing the parliamentary leadership together in promotion of peace and development. In this context, Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani along with Leader of the House in the Senate Senator Shibli Faraz, Senators Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Javed Abbasi, Sitara Ayaz, Shamim Afridi and Secretary Senate Amjed Pervez Malik briefed the media about the objectives and arrangements of the upcoming event.

Chairman Senate said that Gwadar is the future economic hub of the country. The purpose of the holding of this international conference is to highlights its economic importance as well as giving a message that Pakistan is a peaceful country with enormous investment potential. It pertinent that the new city of the Gwadar is being established as a centre of economic activity for the whole region. The member countries of the APA will deliberate on future prospects for economic cooperation.

He said that the inaugural ceremony would be held on 29 October and be followed by meeting of Special Committee on the Creation of Asian Parliament on the same day and meeting of Standing Committee on Political Affairs on 30 October at a local hotel in Gwadar. The meetings will lead to discussion on resolutions which will consequently be brought before the Assembly.

The Asian Parliamentary Assembly traces its history back to the establishment of the Association of Asian Parliaments for Peace (AAPP) in September 1999 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, when a group of Asian parliamentarians decided to join forces towards promoting peace and human rights in Asia. In the year 2006 the AAPP was converted into Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.

Holding the meetings in Gwadar is quite natural for the Asian region whose future trade and business potential is going to be defined by this strategically located city of Pakistan.