ALGIERS – Sunday, 29 October 2023 (APS) – The Algerian delegation participating in the 147th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) held, in Luanda (Angola), bilateral meetings with the representatives of Parliaments of several countries, during which the two sides “discusses issues of common interest,” the Council of the Nation said Saturday in a statement.

On the sidelines of the 147th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), held from 23 to 27 October in Luanda (Angola), the delegation of the Parliament’s two chambers held a bilateral meeting with the president of the Committee on Foreign Affairs at the Belarussian National Assembly, during which “the two sides exchanged views on issues of common interest and reviewed ways to strengthen the cooperation, coordination and the exchange of visits and experiences between the two countries’ Parliaments,” said the source.

The Algerian delegation held a meeting with the speaker of Sierra Leone’s Parliament, as well as the delegation accompanying him, during which the two sides “discussed the different challenges facing Africa in terms of security, development and stability” and “expressed their willingness to examine the bilateral cooperation opportunities as part of the parliamentary diplomacy mechanisms.”

In this regard, the deputy-speaker of the Council of the Nation, head of the Algerian delegation, Mohamed Redha Oussehla, discussed with the president of the Committee on Cooperation at the People’s Consultative Assembly of Indonesia, with whom “he reviewed the historical relations between the two countries,” welcoming “the positive extension of these relations as part of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the principles of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).”

The two sides also “examines the current international events in the Muslim world” and “the tragic developments in Gaza and in the occupied Palestinian territories following the iniquitous Zionist aggression.”

The two sides “agreed to continue coordination and to maintain the unified positions concerning the just Palestinian cause by defending it in all the international parliamentary forums until the establishment of an independent Palestinian State with al-Quds as capital.”

As part of the administrative and technical cooperation, the director general of administrative and financial services and of affairs of members of the Council of the Nation, Ahcene Djouahra, participated in the meetings and workshops of the assembly of secretaries general of IPU, held on 24 and 25 October, in order to examine several issues including “the definition of the representative democracy in times of crisis and digital transformation of parliaments.”