Lahham: Coordinating Parliamentary Stances, Mobilizing Efforts against Terrorism
MONACO, (ST) _ Speaker of the People’s Assembly Mohammad Jihad al-Laham discussed in Monaco yesterday with head of the French parliamentary delegation Michelle Vozhel, who is also Vice President of Mediterranean parliaments, the situation in the Middle East and the phenomenon of terrorism, overwhelming the Mediterranean and ways to address it, politically and at the parliamentarian level.
Talks during the meeting dealt with “the French authorities abstaining from granting members of the Syrian delegation entry visas” to participate in the Mediterranean Parliaments meetings, over which “head of the French delegation expressed regret.
On the other hand, Lahham discussed with Mr. Nair Hussain Bukhari, speaker of the Pakistani Senate, who is also current President of the Asian parliament relations between each of the Mediterranean assembly and the Pakistani Senate and the Syrian parliament and the ways to develop parliamentary cooperation so as to fight against terrorism phenomenon and restore peace and stability in Asia and the Middle East.
He stressed the need of coordinating parliamentary stances and mobilizing joint efforts to counter terrorism spreading in the Middle East as a result of external interference in the affairs of countries in the region and in funding and arming terrorists, calling for intensifying diplomatic efforts to eliminate the phenomenon of jihadi extremist border crossing groups.
Lahham, moreover, reviewed with the Russian parliament speaker Andre Kelemov parliamentary relations between Syria and Russia and ways of coordinating their positions in international organizations on priority issues, especially respecting sovereignty of states, preventing interference in their internal affairs under any pretext and challenging international terrorism, infiltrating at regional and international support.
Meantime, the Mediterranean Parliamentary assembly continued yesterday meetings of its 9th plenary session, in Monaco to discuss a set of priority issues in the Mediterranean, including the humanitarian effects of the crisis in Syria, the Middle East peace process and democratic reforms taking place in the southern Mediterranean region as well as other issues pertinent to cooperation, economic relations and climatic change, protection of civilians and honoring human rights.
T. Fateh