Islamabad, August 25, 2022 (PPI-OT):Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf held a meeting with The President of the Senate in the Australian Parliament Sue Lines on the sidelines of the 65th CPC in Halifax, Canada. In the meeting, he extended an invitation to the President of the Senate in the Australian Parliament to visit Pakistan.
He also informed the Senate President about the holding of the IPU Regional Seminar on SDGs being organized by the National Assembly of Pakistan and invited her to attend the Seminar. He stressed the need of enhancing Parliamentary cooperation between the two countries. He also sought expanded cooperation in the fields of trade, technology, education and parliamentary interaction.
He opined that parliamentary diplomacy was of great value for building meaningful relations between two countries. He also briefed the Senate President about the splendid events of Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of 1st Constituent Assembly of Pakistan
The President of the Senate in the Australian Parliament Sue Lines welcomed the ideas and remarks of the Speaker of Pakistan and informed that she had also recently invited the Aboriginal Women to visit the Parliament. She said that Australia had sent a new Ambassador to Pakistan and hoped that under his tenure, the relationship of the two countries would further enhance.
She also touched upon the ongoing Cricket interaction between the two countries and noted that sports was yet another area of interaction between the two nations. She also informed that many Pakistani students were studying in Australia, which provided a remarkable chance of deepening relations between Pakistan and Australia.
Federal Minister for Law and Justice Azam Tarar was also present during the meeting. He said that being Commonwealth Countries, Australia and Pakistan had a lot in common and were similar when it came to the system of governance, justice and law. He noted that the basic tannest of law of both the countries were drafted by one man: Lord Macaulay.
This provided an excellent opportunity of joint cooperation and sharing best practices for the promotion of good governance and speedy justice in the respective countries. He also informed that in his capacity as the Bar leader, he was instrumental in revamping and redrafting the law education in Pakistan and in this respect had signed agreements with the Universities and law schools of the US and England. He sought similar collaboration with the Australian universities. The Senate President welcomed the idea.
Furthermore, Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, said that in his earlier role as the Deputy Chair of the Senate, he had realized well that parliamentary diplomacy provided far better and effective space in resolving issues between states than the formal diplomatic channels. He noted that although there were friendship groups in each parliament with their sister parliaments yet these were not used to their full potential.
Convener SDGs MNA Romina Khurshid Alam briefed the Australian delegation on the work of the SDGs Secretariat and the efforts put in to bring the development agenda within the fold of the parliamentary business. She specifically briefed about the upcoming SDGs Seminar and handed over a copy of the invitation of the Seminar to the Senate President. Australia is a Member of the IPU’s Asia Pacific Group.
The Senate President took keen interest in the Children’s Session of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations and congratulated the Speaker of Pakistan on holding this event. She also praised the role of Pakistani women parliamentarians and noted that the country had given to the world the first Muslim woman prime minister and the first Muslim woman speaker.
For more information, contact:
Secretary,
National Assembly of Pakistan
Automation Centre, National Assembly Secretariat,
Parliament House, Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-9221082-83
Fax: +92-51-9221106
Email: assembly@na.gov.pk
Website: www.na.gov.pk