The IPU and the Shura Council of Qatar reinforced their cooperation this week with the signature of a new Memorandum of Understanding between Mr. Ahmed Bin Abdulla Bin Zaid Al Mahmoud, Speaker of the Shura Council, and Mr. Martin Chungong, IPU Secretary General.
The agreement is designed to further strengthen relations between the IPU and the Qatar parliament with a particular focus on parliamentary activities that promote security and peace as well as opportunities for sustainable development.
Mr. Al Mahmoud, Speaker of the Shura Council, said “We will work to strengthen this cooperation and coordinate positions at the service of the IPU’s objectives. Those objectives can be summarized as work to promote democracy, respect for human rights, maintaining international peace and security and achieving sustainable development for all the people in the world.”
Mr. Duarte Pacheco, IPU President, said “This agreement is a special reflection of the relationship that we have built over the past few years. We share many of the same values: a commitment to empower parliaments, to increase the participation of women and youth in politics and to achieve dialogue and peace between all countries in the world.”
Mr. Martin Chungong, IPU Secretary General, said “At the IPU, we are pleased and proud to be able to reach out to the entirety of our membership, small and big countries alike. We look forward to strengthening our cooperation and supporting the historic decision of the authorities to organize elections in October this year and to accelerate the progress of democracy in Qatar.”
In April 2019, the Shura Council hosted the 140th IPU Assembly in Doha, Qatar, one of the IPU’s most successful assemblies with over 800 MPs from 160 countries attending. In the final Doha Declaration endorsed at the Assembly, MPs from national parliaments underlined the critical role of education to enhance peace, security and the rule of law as well as support democracy and human rights.
