The Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) Secretary-General condemns the use of excessive force and violence against unarmed protesters, which has lead to the loss of hundreds of lives in some states in the Middle East and North Africa. Inspired by the Charter and decisions of the APA, the Secretary-General calls on all states concerned to exercise self-restraints, and respect the legitimate demands of their peoples, including their rights to freedom of expression and assembly. The Secretary-General recalls many decisions of the APA concerning good-governance and the imperative to promote accountability and representativeness in governments and other apparatus of states. He emphasizes the need for greater consultation and cooperation at international level to help people concerned to bring about democratic reforms. In this context, due diligence must be observed to prevent foreign interference and exploitation of the situation.

The role of parliaments to guarantee basic human rights of the people, combat corruption, promote good governance, accountability, representativeness of governments, and encouraging dialogue and national reconciliation cannot be over-emphasized and shall guide the work of the APA in the months and years to come. Parliaments have a basic duty to ensure that governments respect and promote fundamental human rights of their people, to exercise vigilance over the policies and practices of their governments, and to introduce appropriate reforms where necessary to ensure government by the people and for the people. The Secretary- General underlines the need for APA to further engage in exchanges of information and practices within Member Parliaments to promote their national capacities in the areas above.

APA Secretary-General
Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian

The Secretary-General of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) condemned the desecration of the Quran, the Holy book of half of its member parliaments, by some extremist Christian elements in the United States last week.

The outrageous incident in the United States has caused uproar in many Muslim countries leading to the deaths and injuries of many people.

The Secretary-General underlines that the desecration of the Holy Quran by few Christian extremists in the United States has nothing, what so ever, to do with Christianity and that the adherents of both faiths respect the sanctities of one another.

The Secretary-General recalls international efforts, including those of the APA in terms of many resolutions on enhancing respect and protecting cultural diversity worldwide. He called on member parliaments, all governments, the IPU and other international organizations as well as the NGOs to double their efforts to promote inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue and understanding. The Secretary-General stresses that greater achievements in Asia towards the APA goal of integration would better position it to promote better global understanding among religions and cultures.

Furthermore, the Secretary-General urges a concerted effort at international level including Parliamentary initiative, to prevent recurrence of so heinous and dangerous incident that took place in the United States last week.

APA Secretary-General
Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian

APA Secretary-General calls upon APA Member Parliaments to work closely with their governments and humanitarian organizations to speed up assistance to the survivors of the devastating flood in Pakistan, a leading member of the APA. The flood which has been termed as the worst natural disaster in Pakistan’s recent memory has affected 20,000,000 people, and left 1200 dead and about 2000,000 people homeless. The impact of the flood has been devastating and the immediate need is tremendous.

The urgent and life saving need in Pakistan include shelter, food, clean water and health care. Relief supplies and cash contributions need to be coordinated with UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Natural Disaster Relief Agency of the Government of Pakistan.

The APA Standing Committee meeting on Social and Cultural Affairs was held in Palau on 14 – 16 March 2010 and seven APA Member Parliaments (Bahrain, Indonesia, Iran, Palau, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka) participated in the meeting.

APA Secretary General has sent a letter of thanks addressed to His Excellency Mr. Noah Idechong, Speaker of the house of Delegates and His Excellency Mr. Mlib Tmetuchi, President of Senate of Palau and appreciated the hospitality and warm reception extended to all participants.

Because of the requests received from some of the esteemed APA Member Parliaments for postponement of APA subcommittee meeting on Globalization in Kabul, APA Secretary-General decided, in coordination with the esteemed parliament of Afghanistan, to postpone the meeting to 12-13 August 2008 so the parliaments who are interested to dispatch their delegations to the meeting can better prepare their travel arrangements.

It is noteworthy that, as announced earlier, the Parliament of Afghanistan has guaranteed provision of the highest level of security to all of the visiting delegates throughout their stay in the country. Hotel room, meals, and local transportation will be generously provided by Afghanistan's Parliament for the participating delegates for the duration of the meeting.

All APA delegations who wish to participate in this meeting are kindly requested to fill out the meeting’s Registration Form and send it to APA Secretariat as soon as possible.

The House of Representatives of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan will generously host the First Meeting of APA Subcommittee on the "Challenges and Opportunities of Globalization in Asia" from 4-5 August 2008 in Kabul.

The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs of Afghanistan wrote in an official letter to the President of the country’s House of Representatives that all concerned government agencies and authorities of Afghanistan, including its Ministry of Internal Affairs and National Security Agency, declared in separate official letters that they would take all necessary operative measures to ensure the highest level of security for the delegations of APA Member Parliaments who will travel to Afghanistan to attend the meeting.

The Sub-Committee on Asian Integrated Energy Market held its 1st meeting on 15-16 May 2008 in Moscow, the Russian Federation. Delegations composed of APA delegates and energy experts from the following Member Parliaments participated in the meetings of the Sub-Committee: Afghanistan, Bahrain, China, Kuwait, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, the Philippines, Russian Federation, and Saudi Arabia. More>

Wednesday, 16 April 2008 – Dr. Nejad Hosseinian delivered a statement today in the special meeting which APA’s Secretariat organized at the side of the 118th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Cape Town. This event, which was attended by the delegates of several APA Member Parliaments, was an opportunity to exchange the latest news and views regarding the activities of the APA. You can read the statement of APA’s Secretary-General. More>

The State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation will host the meeting of the APA Sub-Committee on Integrated Energy Market in Asia on 15-16 May 2008. More>

The Sub-Committee on the Friendship Pact of Asia held its 1st meeting on 23-24 June 2008 in Manama, the Kingdom of Bahrain. APA Delegations from Bahrain, Bangladesh, Islamic Republic of Iran, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Kuwait, State of Palestine, the Russian Federation, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Syrian Arab Republic participated in this meeting. More>

The Sub-Committee on Alleviating Poverty in Asia held its 1st meeting from 12 to 13 June 2008 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Delegations composed of APA delegates and anti-poverty experts from the following 10 Member Parliaments participated in the meeting of the Sub-Committee: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Lao PDR, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Turkey. More>

The Sub-Committee on Asian Integrated Energy Market held its 1st meeting on 15-16 May 2008 in Moscow, the Russian Federation. Delegations composed of APA delegates and energy experts from the following Member Parliaments participated in the meetings of the Sub-Committee: Afghanistan, Bahrain, China, Kuwait, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, the Philippines, Russian Federation, and Saudi Arabia. More>

Wednesday, 16 April 2008 – Dr. Nejad Hosseinian delivered a statement today in the special meeting which APA’s Secretariat organized at the side of the 118th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Cape Town. This event, which was attended by the delegates of several APA Member Parliaments, was an opportunity to exchange the latest news and views regarding the activities of the APA. You can read the statement of APA’s Secretary-General. More>

The State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation will host the meeting of the APA Sub-Committee on Integrated Energy Market in Asia on 15-16 May 2008. More>

The APA Secretary-General, Dr. Hadi Nejad Hosseinian said: “Through integration of the West Asia and the East Asia, the cost of energy would noticeably be reduced.” In an interview with IRNA on Tuesday, February 12, the APA Secretary-General underlined that in the context of current global rivalry in the field of energy, he estimates that Asia stands to gain a clear competitive edge in final energy cost if east and west Asia work together in an integrated fashion. Huge saving in investment for peak-hour use of energy in each country, considerable reduction in the cost of investment and their risks are among major economic incentives of an Asian integrated energy market scheme.More>

Secretary-General of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly announced the formation of a committee comprising of Asia’s large producing and consuming countries of Asia to study the establishment of an organization for energy cooperation in Asia.

In a press and radio-TV conference which was held at the headquarters of the Permanent Secretariat of Asian Parliamentary Assembly on 15 January 2008 and attended by Iranian as well as foreign correspondents, Dr. Nejad Hosseinian explained the achievements of the Second Plenary Session of the Assembly and the Secretariat's plans for the realization of the adopted resolutions.More>

The second meeting of the executive council in 2007 and the second session of the APA Plenary were held in Tehran from 17 to 20 November 2007. The Plenary adopted 8 resolutions and decisions with regard to documents and plans of actions prepared by the Secretariat and the executive council. Among other decisions, the Plenary voted for the establishment of a permanent secretariat in Tehran. It further approved Dr. Mohammad Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian as the APA Secretary General for a period of four years. To see the APA's Tehran Declaration 2007 and other resolutions visit here>

The second meeting of the executive council in 2007 and the second session of the APA Plenary were held in Tehran from 17 to 20 November 2007. In his opening statement, Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, encouraged Asian Parliamentarians to prepare grounds for scientific and technological cooperation between Asian countries. He also suggested to the Asian Parlimentarians to consider justice as the core value of all their undertakings in APA.

The APA Secretariat announced today that the APA Joint Conference with Foreign Ministers which was scheduled for 19 November 2007 is postponed and the second session of the Plenary will commence instead on 19 November 2007. “Due to the coincidence scheduling of the APA-Foreign Ministers Joint Conference with some other regional events, and having received a number of proposals from member countries indicating their desire to postpone the Conference” the statement noted “the APA Joint Conference with Foreign Ministers has been postponed.” Although the esteemed foreign ministers who had planned to join the Conference were already informed, the Secretariat has expressed its regret for inconvenience this change has made for members. The statement continued: “all member countries will be informed of the new date and program later on. It should be emphasized therefore, that the APA second session of the Plenary shall commence on November 19, 2007 and there are no change in the program of the executive council.”

The Executive Council
Agenda, Program of Work (updated)

The Second Session of the APA Plenary
Agenda, Program of Work, (updated)

Registration, Accommodation and Travel Information

The working group on Asian Monetary Fund asked the Secretariat in the last meeting of the executive council to study mission, obejectives and framework of a structured mechanism for economic cooperation in Asia. The Secretariat has prepared a working paper on the issue for consideration of the second meeting of the executive council (17-18 November 2007). See the full text of the working paper here>

The Second Annual Plenary of the APA will be held in Tehran from 19 to 21 November 2007. The first day of the Plenary is devoted to a Joint Conference between the APA and the Foreign Ministers of the APA Member States. The Joint Conference will debate the cooperation between the APA and the Executive Branches of the Member States for promoting greater integration in Asia. The rest of the Plenary will discuss the APA vision and its ideal structure.

The Executive Council
Agenda, Program of Work

The APA Joint Conference with Foreign Ministers
Agenda, Program of Work, Suggested Themes of Debate

The Second Session of the APA Plenary
Agenda, Program of Work, Suggested Themes of Debate

Registration and Travel Information

An APA delegation led by His Excellency, Mr. Laksono, the Speaker of the House of Representative of Indonesia and the next President of the APA visited Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg from 3 to 5 October 2007. Exchanging views and discussing ways and means for developing further cooperation were main objectives of the visit. More>