The Inter-Parliamentary Union has passed, by a majority vote, an emergency request by the Federal National Council, FNC, to consider the issue of the Rohingya refugees during the meetings of the IPU's 137th General Assembly meetings, now running here.

Commenting on the IPU's positive reaction to the UAE request, Dr. Amal Al Qubaisi, Speaker of FNC, said the UAE efforts to put an end to the grave humanitarian crisis and oppression faced by the Rohingya refugees who flooded into Bangladesh to flee the offensives they are coming under have succeeded.

The request, titled "Putting an end to the humanitarian and grave crisis and the offenses against Rohingya refugees and ensuring their unconditional and safe return to Myanmar," calls for an urgent international action to condemn the crimes perpetrated against them.

"The UAE request has secured an overwhelming majority and has been shared by other Arab and Islamic nations," she said, noting that the FNC has been unanimously entrusted to chair an Arab committee to coordinate and discuss emergency requests and secure global support for them.

In the meantime, the Russian news agency, TASS, has quoted Valentina Matviyenko, Speaker of the Upper Parliament House of Russia’s Federation Council, as telling Dr. Al Qubaisi, "We have been traditionally considering the United Arab Emirates as one of Russia’s major partners in the region."

Speaking after a meeting with Dr. Al Qubaisi, she added that the key task on the Russia-UAE bilateral agenda is the expansion of trade-and-economic and investment cooperation.