ISTANBUL, Turkey: The Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) at its annual meeting held in Istanbul on Thursday unanimously elected Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed as the Vice President of APA in Charge of Political Affairs Committee.
The meeting also decided that Pakistan would be the next President of APA for 2 years, requesting the Senate of Pakistan to host the APA during 2020-21.
Thanking the Parliamentary leaders of Asia, Senator Mushahid Hussain said that ‘Pakistan will continue to play a leadership role in the quest for an Asian Parliament, adding that ‘among our founding fathers, the great poet Allama Iqbal had predicted the resurgence of Asia and the rise of China in his poetry over 80 years back’.
Senator Mushahid Hussain also presented the report of the Special Committee on the Asian Parliament which is established by the Senate of Pakistan under APA mandate.
In his speech to the APA plenary as leader of the Pakistani delegation, Senator Mushahid Hussain said that ‘in accordance with the prediction of Allama Iqbal, the balance of economic and political power is shifting from the West to the East, and the Belt and Road Initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping is the single most important diplomatic and developmental vision in the 21st Century’.
Referring to the ‘Asian spirit of resilience of the people of Pakistan’, Mushahid Hussain termed Pakistan as a ‘robust and resilient democracy’, saying that ‘Pakistan has hosted the largest refugee population for the longest period and Pakistan has also fought the longest and most successful inland war on terrorism, as the biggest victim of terrorism, suffering 70,000 casualties, soldiers and civilians’.
Mushahid Hussain also met the Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. He also held meetings with Speakers of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Afghanistan and invited all of them, on behalf of Speaker of National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, to the ‘Joint Meeting of Speakers of Parliament on Terrorism & Inter-Regional Connectivity’ in Islamabad on December 24-25, 2017.
Senator Mushahid Hussain was also requested by the Turkish hosts to Chair the plenary of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly.
