FNC delegation continues participation in IPU meetings in Russia

A delegation from the Federal National Council, FNC, led by Dr. Amal Abdullah Al Qubaisi, Speaker of FNC, is continuing its participation in the meetings of the 137th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, IPU, and the Governing Council of its 201st session, as well as its standing committees and subsidiary bodies, which are being held in St Petersburg, Russia, for the fifth consecutive day.

The IPU praised the UAE’s support for its international humanitarian efforts and its future vision of women’s and youth empowerment while considering the country a centre of creativity and innovation. It also praised the UAE’s pioneering role in organising and hosting international events, especially the Global Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament.

During the meeting of the Governing Council of the 201st session of the IPU, which saw the participation of members of the FNC delegation, voting took place for the new IPU president. Mexico’s Gabriela Cuevas Barron and Ivonne Passada, Uruguayan Senate Member, were nominated, and the former won the election.

The participants of the 26th meeting of the Forum of Women Parliamentarians, which saw the participation of FNC member Alya Al Jassim and was held on the sidelines of the 137th Assembly, highlighted the importance of the Abu Dhabi Declaration that was issued at the end of the Global Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament.

The participants of the meeting also affirmed the importance of the declaration’s goal of encouraging the IPU to establish a structure for predicting the future and evaluating the resulting analysis, as well as analysing global events and their effect on the lives of people, with the aim of providing opportunities, facilitating the actions of parliaments, and finding effective solutions to the challenges stated in the Abu Dhabi Declaration.

A discussion session was also held for the fifth anniversary of the Plan of Action for Gender-sensitive Parliaments. At the start of the session, Galina Karelova, Deputy Chairperson of the Council of the Federal Assembly, was chosen as the president of the 26th session of the Forum of Women Parliamentarians.

The General Secretariat of the IPU presented a recent report that discussed the union’s latest activities regarding gender equality. The level of women’s participation in its 137th Assembly reached 29 percent, which comprises 284 women out of the total of 845 delegates. It was also noted that the delegations with no female members make up 14 percent of the assembly, which will result in sanctions against their countries, which include Bosnia, Luxembourg, Somalia and Qatar.