Conference on establishment of Arab parliament begins

Representatives from 20 Arab nations began a conference Monday on the establishment of an Arab parliament as well as discuss developments in Iraq, Sudan and the Palestinian territories.

Amar Saadani, the speaker of the national assembly in Algeria, the host country for the meeting of the Arab Parliamentary Union, stressed “the current challenges facing the Arab world call for legislatures capable of dealing with the concerns of Arab citizens”.

During the two-day meeting, the delegates will be considering a plan to set up an interim Arab parliament under an agreement sealed at an Arab summit in Algiers in March.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa is to attend the parliamentary union meeting.

Arab heads of state have agreed that an international interim parliament would consist of four representatives from each national parliament, with a five-year mandate, Saadani said.

It would sit in Syria’s capital Damascus and pave the way for a permanent Arab legislature whose members would be elected like those of the European Parliament, the Strasbourg-based law-making assembly of the European Union, he added.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri emphasized the importance of country-level Arab parliamentary meetings. Berri noted that the Algeria session marks "the first time ... such a step has been taken following the approval of the Arab summit," which was also held in Algeria this past March. According to Berri, there are numerous plans to reinforce joint parliamentary work, given its widely acknowledged importance.

Berri spoke of the need for "Arab solidarity in order to realize the dream of one Arab Parliament."