‘Arab voice must be heard’

Speaker of the Council of Representatives, Fawzia Zainal, has arrived in Jordan, where she will lead the Kingdom’s parliamentary delegation to the 29th Conference of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union (APU), due to be held here on March 3-4. On arrival, the speaker was welcomed by the First Deputy Speaker of Jordan’s House of Representatives, Dr Nassar Al Qaisi, and Bahrain’s Ambassador to Jordan, Ahmed Yussef Al Ruwaie.

In a statement, the speaker said that Bahrain’s parliamentary delegation will participate actively in the conference, themed “Jerusalem is the Eternal Capital of the State of Palestine”, as well as in the meetings of APU’s standing committees which will discuss the APU’s internal regulation, combating terrorism and the Woman and the Women and Child Law.

She asserted that the participation of the kingdom’s legislative branch in the conference is in line with its keenness to co-operate with brotherly and friendly countries in various fields, noting that the conference is also an opportunity to highlight the kingdom’s democratic achievements through its constitutional institutions, such as the elected Council of Representatives and the Shura Council, and the subsequent democratic openness strides that ensured the freedom of opinion and expression for everybody, without restrictions.

She affirmed that the APU has always championed all the just Arab causes at various international parliamentary gatherings. Referring to the theme of the conference, Zainal asserted that the Arab parliaments should rally together in support of Jerusalem, stressing that preserving the identity of the city as an Arab Islamic city is the key to resolving the Palestinian issue. The speaker emphasised that the Arab voice has to be heard at various regional and global gatherings, amid attempts to fragment the Arab Nation and put the security of its countries at risk.