This name may not mean much to those unfamiliar with international politics, but this event is very important both for our country as a whole and for each citizen, as it involves the issues of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy as a state, and hence our security. What is the APA and why, in his speech at today’s session, did its Secretary General Mohammed Reza Majidi demonstrate such unwavering confidence that “under the wise and dynamic chairmanship of Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis, the APA will prosper and succeed in the next two years”?
APA was established in 1999 at the initiative of the Republic of Bangladesh at the Conference of Asian Parliamentarians for Peace and Cooperation. More than forty countries are members of the organization. And the main goal is to coordinate the efforts of the national parliaments of these states in addressing pressing problems of our time, of course, taking into account the interests of the entire Asian region. In other words, the countries use the instrument of inter-parliamentary dialogue to develop common strategies aimed at ensuring security in the world as a whole and stability in Asia in particular.
The supreme body of the APA is the General Assembly, where decisions are made. And it is very important that these decisions are taken by simple voting, i.e., by majority vote. Looking ahead, this is the difference between the APA and the Non-Aligned Movement, where decisions are reached by consensus. Finally, each country in the APA has a number of votes that are calculated based on the size of its population. Obviously, the larger the population, the more votes a country has in the voting. As for the focus of these decisions, within the political and economic organization, they also address global issues of peace and security and the situation of women and children separately.
One may, of course, ask: why do we need inter-parliamentary organizations at all, if the world has institutions like the UN? But, first, the UN itself is flawed and, as the events of recent years show, requires reorganization. Second, there are advantages to state-to-state interaction at the parliamentary level, and they lie in the effectiveness of parliamentary diplomacy. In the course of interaction, parliamentarians can learn from each other’s experience in addressing such serious problems as economic, humanitarian and information security, adopt relevant and important laws in these areas, develop cooperation in the fight against international terrorism and organized crime, drug trafficking and environmental problems. That is why parliamentary diplomacy today is considered in the world as a unique tool for creating good and trusting relations between parliamentarians and making the right decisions in line with the global trend. And in this matter, cooperation within the APA plays a tremendous role.
For example, during the 6th Plenary Session of APA, the parliamentarians discussed the issues of promoting multilateral trade and economic cooperation among countries, combating terrorism and infectious diseases, as well as measures to address the consequences of natural disasters, while the 7th session addressed the role of Asian parliaments in promoting peace, stability and democracy in the Asia-Pacific region, the situation in the Middle East, disarmament, non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and peaceful use of atomic energy, and the role of Asian parliaments in promoting peace, stability and democracy in the Asia-Pacific region. The current 14th Plenary Session of the APA, the theme of which is “Fostering Regional Cooperation for Sustainable Development in Asia” and which, incidentally, is attended by parliamentary delegations from almost 40 countries, will host meetings of political, economic, budgetary, social and cultural affairs committees. That is why, in her speech at the event, Speaker of the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan Sahiba Gafarova said: “Humanitarian crises, conflicts, poverty, negative effects of climate change, growing discrimination, racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia in the world—all these also have an adverse impact on the Asian region. The challenges we are facing can be addressed only through joint efforts. The same can be said for efforts to achieve peace, security, stability and sustainable development in our region.”
And in conclusion, a few words as to why APA Secretary General Mohammed Reza Majidi is so confident that the organization he heads will achieve great success in the next two years under the chairmanship of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has vast experience in working with the Non-Aligned Movement, which our country has been chairing for the past several years. We took over its chairmanship in 2019 (the 18th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement was held in Baku on 25-26 October 2019), but in 2022, by unanimous decision of the member countries of the organization, our country was given the right to head this international organization for another year. And as a result, the chairmanship in the organization passed to the next country, which is Uganda, in January 2024. These years have not been without results both for Azerbaijan and this international organization, which, by the way, has 120 members, 18 observer states and 10 international observer organizations, which is very much comparable to the UN.
There is no need to list all the changes and initiatives that have been implemented in the Non-Aligned Movement as a result of our country’s chairmanship, but one of them was the stepping up of inter-parliamentary dialogue at the level of the organization, even developing an information platform for interaction between such bodies of different countries. That is why, when the MM Speaker Sahiba Gafarova spoke in her speech at the 14th Plenary Session of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly today about further improvement of the activity of this organization, and in particular due to the increased efficiency of its bodies regulated by the Charter of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly, it means that in the next two years we should also expect serious reforms initiated by Azerbaijan within the APA.
Rauf Nasirov
Translated from Minval.az
