Top Kuwait MP hails Arab parliament meeting
Politics 3/11/2008 5:47:00 PM
IRBIL, Iraq, March 11 (KUNA) -- Kuwait's top lawmaker here Tuesday praised the ongoing Arab Parliamentary Union conference as a message to the world that Iraq was on the right track to regain its regional position.
Jassem al-Kharafi, speaker of the Kuwaiti National Assembly (parliament), was addressing the 50th session of the 13th conference of the union, which kicked off here earlier in the day.
He said Arab presence in the conference demonstrated appreciation for reconstruction achievements by the Iraqi people, and for their efforts to consecrate their freedom, unity and independence.
"The 'Arab' participation is a message to the world that Iraq is in on the right track to regain its regional position and to play its constructive role in the march of the Arab nation. So, we have to make it an influential message through a successful and fruitful meeting and through our support for the Iraqi people," he said.
The gathering comes amid very complicated events in the Arab region that will surely pose serious repercussions to Arab and regional security and stability, he said.
In this context, he urged the Arab Parliamentary Union to play a part in rearranging the Arab house from within and strengthening Arab structure.
He pointed to deep brotherly relations between the Kuwaiti and Iraqi people, as well as Kuwaiti parliamentary support for a united democratic independent Iraq.
The people-to-people relationship is ushering in a fresh stage that requires everyone to ensure mutual respect and good-neighborliness, to abide by international legitimacy and to sincerely seek to cooperate together constructively, al-Kharafi said.
He voiced hope that the coming Arab summit would come up with concrete solutions to Arab issues, urging all Arab countries to work hard to ensure a successful summit and to favor supreme national interests in their resolutions.
The retreating inter-Arab dialogue has escalated Arab issues and disagreements and has even led to inability to tackle Arab issues within legitimate national frameworks and charters, he lamented.
This could result in further splits and divisions and pave the way for internationalizing Arab issues, he said, calling on Arab parliaments to play a more active role in this respect.
He urged Palestinian leaders to work hard to rebuild the bridges of trust and communication among each other through constructive dialogue that could restore Palestinian unity and help the Palestinian people regain confidence in their potential and capabilities.
"Palestinian leaders are more required today than ever before to rebuild the bridges of trust and communication through a committed constructive dialogue that could restore Palestinian unity," he said.
On Lebanon, the top Kuwaiti lawmaker alarmed that the conflict among Lebanese rivals would bring bare consequences to Lebanese unity, security and stability and to the future of generations to come.
Therefore, he urged Lebanese leaders to adopt a quiet rational dialogue that should abide by national constants and aim to maintain national unity, a thing which would eventually take the country to the shore of safety.
In his speech, al-Kharafi also condemned Israel's continued brutal aggression on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, urging the international community to move immediately to stop Israeli atrocities in the occupied Palestinian territories, to protect the defenseless Palestinian people and to lift the strangling Israeli blockade on Gaza.
Finally, he thanked Iraq for warm welcome and hospitability, wishing it a successfully organized parliamentary conference. (end) sbr.ms.abd.mt KUNA 111747 Mar 08NNNN
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