Africa-Press – Angola. About 1,400 deputies, from 172 countries around the world, will participate in the 147th General Assembly of the Interparliamentary Union (UIP), taking place in October this year, in the Angolan capital, Luanda.
The information was given to the press this Monday by the president of the National Group to monitor the UIP, Idalina Valente, at the end of a meeting of the Organizing Committee of the event, chaired by the president of the National Assembly, Carolina Cerqueira.
At that meeting, the composition of the organizing committee, coordinated by the President of the Angolan Parliament, was approved.
The organizing committee comprises three work sub-committees, namely the organisation, documentation, assurance, communication and press sub-committee, the finance, logistics, protocol and transport sub-committee, the events sub-committee, as well as a executive secretariat that will support these sub-committees.
Deputy Idalina Valente, who is also the spokeswoman for the event, emphasized the fact that this is the second time that a Portuguese-speaking country organizes this meeting, the last time taking place 63 years ago, in Brazil.
He made it known that during the General Assembly a new president of the IPU will be elected, who will leave the African Group, noting that a candidate from sub-Saharan Africa has been identified, whose name he did not reveal.
“Therefore, we are going to elect an African to preside over the organization for the next three years, which has not happened for some time”, he maintained.
He said that it was a great challenge for the country to host around 1400 deputies from all the parliaments that are members of the IPU.
“There are about 172 countries, plus some observer members, which means that, in fact, from now until October we have a great job in several aspects, but that we will certainly benefit from this great work that we are going to carry out”, he underlined.
Theme on the benefits of peace
Deputy Idalina Valente made sure that the host country has the possibility to choose the main theme of the event.
Initially, he said, a theme related to climate change had been suggested, “but, in fact, we have been debating this matter a lot lately”.
He added that, in negotiations with the UIP secretariat, the title of the theme had not yet been defined, “but on their proposal (UIP secretariat) and by our own will, we would like it to be a theme that relates to the benefits of peace and the scope of the sustainable development goals”.
According to the spokesperson for the event, the country has the great challenge of creating the technical, material and human conditions to ensure the success of an event of this nature, from press equipment, photography, information and communication technologies, among others. others.
Idalina Valente also emphasized the fact that the country has enough hotel capacity to accommodate delegates in three, four and five star hotels, “but we will have to make sure that these hotels are fully functioning”.
He informed that in June, the president of the National Assembly, Carolina Cerqueira, as coordinator of the event, will send invitation letters to the 172 members of the organization and to around 43 observers, to be present at the great event.
“And, at that time, we will have to have information about health, the ease of visas, the availability of hotels and a whole series of logistical issues that we have to ensure so that the participants can come in peace and with the full certainty that everything it will go well”, stressed Idalina Valente, who was also a member of the Executive Committee of the UIP.
The Interparliamentary Union (UIP), founded in June 1889 by Frédéric Passy and William Randal Cremer, is the international organization of parliaments.
As such, it is the only organization representing the legislative branch of governments on a world scale. Unlike other international organizations, it is not intergovernmental but an institution for the promotion of cooperation between parliaments.
It works under the United Nations system, and its fundamental purpose is to obtain peace, cooperation between peoples and the consolidation of representative institutions, through political dialogue.
It is considered a pioneering international political organization, with more than 170 affiliated national parliaments and 12 associated regional parliamentary assemblies.
The IPU is the main parliamentary interlocutor for the United Nations and brings the voice of parliaments into UN decision-making processes, regularly presenting its resolutions in the General Assembly, issuing declarations, participating in debates and organizing parliamentary meetings on key issues. of the UN agenda.
In recognition of this important role, in 2002 the United Nations granted it permanent observer status.
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