Press release of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Cairo, 11 September 1997
N° 4

The President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, opened the 98^th Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Cairo today, calling on the world's parliaments to ensure that the New World Order takes into consideration the circumstances and requirements of all peoples and civilisations.

"Each one of us is required to effectively and positively share in formulating this new system of basic principles, values and rules," President Mubarak told the assembled parliamentarians from 128 countries. "No group should exclusively reserve this task alone, irrespective of its good intentions, power, or degree of progress and potentials."

As the "conscience of nations" in this regard, President Mubarak said, parliaments can express peoples' "hopes and pains, their dreams and fears, their ambitions and frustrations. You defend their rights and interests at a time where the pace of change is accelerating at an unprecedented and inconceivable rate."

The President said that a just and stable world required in particular: a balance of interests between industrialised and developing countries; consideration of Third World countries' needs when formulating international economic policies; respect for the fact that "true globalisation is the universality of values, principles and rules, before being that of markets and systems"; a comprehensive programme to help Third World countries in their development; that no environmental protection costs are imposed on the Third World which was not responsible for environmental degradation; and the acceptance that "all theories and concepts that discriminate between nations and cultures and create a false awareness of contradictions and conflicts among cultures, religions and creeds should be totally renounced".

He said that democracy was also an essential element of a New World Order. "It enables social forces in various countries of the world to express their opinions, hopes and ambitions" and "is the only means for the protection of freedom and innovation".

President Mubarak also spoke about the situation in the Middle East, calling for "decisive and crucial stances" and "tangible acts and deeds" for achieving peace in the region, and not just "flowery words and promises".

Overall, the President said, "I believe that the most important objectives that should win international consensus are equitable and comprehensive peace, balanced and sustainable development, and true democracy to which man should be committed before applying it on others".

The President of the Egyptian People's Assembly and President of the Inter-Parliamentary Council, Dr Ahmed Fathy Sorour, said that the two main topics of the Conference, ensuring lasting democracy by forging close links between parliament and the people, and employment in a globalising world, were particularly timely as the world approached the third millennium as a "global village".

He said that promoting democracy had been at the heart of the IPU's mandate since it was created over a century ago, and "the spread of democracy in the world is one of the positive results of the IPU's work". He noted that the IPU Council would be adopting at its session in Cairo a Universal Declaration on Democracy: "This should prove to be another leap forward on the road to upholding the basic rights of individuals and peoples."

Dr Sorour said that employment in an era of globalisation does represent a socio-economic aspects of both democracy and human rights. "It is through more jobs that social stability, economic efficiency and eradication of poverty could have meaningful imports," he said. "Discussion of the impact of globalisation on employment will carry our deliberations forward to topics such as international competition and cost-effective production through modestly paid manpower, through outsourcing and, sometimes, through sources where child labour is predominantly practised."

"We, parliamentarians, have to be bent upon devising such viable policies and creating a favourable public opinion that would support their implementation lest globalisation should grow into a heartless machine that bulldozes the weak and the have-nots in favour of the powerful and the haves," Dr Sorour said. "Parliamentarians should see their success in fulfilling the aspirations of their respective electorates, including those pertaining to national policies aimed at creating more jobs and positive, constructive responses to globalisation."

As President of the Egyptian Parliament, Dr Sorour recalled that Egypt had participated in 54 inter-parliamentary conferences since it joined the IPU in 1924, because of the "objectives and principles upon which the IPU was founded and for which the IPU works to achieve: namely, to establish peace, promote international co-operation, and consolidate parliamentary institutions".

A message from the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Kofi Annan, was read to the opening ceremony by the Director-General of the UN Office in Geneva, Mr Vladimir Petrovsky.

The message stressed the importance the Secretary-General attached to building closer ties between the United Nations and the IPU, notably as a result of the 1996 IPU-UN Co-operation Agreement.

"The Co-operation Agreement our two organisations signed last year was only a beginning," Kofi Annan said. "It reflects a most welcome and promising development: the emergence of new actors on the world stage, and their growing influence in shaping the international agenda."

He spoke about the "joint efforts" the two organisations would be undertaking under the Agreement on "democratisation, full employment and renewal of this vital instrument of common progress and global service".

He said MPs had a clear role to play on global issues such as democracy and employment: "You can ensure that these issues stay at the forefront of national debate. You can pass legislation, and allocate national resources - personnel as well as funding - to support such legislation. You can establish parliamentary commissions to monitor the effectiveness of legislation and recommend new or redoubled efforts where necessary. And you can share your experiences and expertise through inter-parliamentary conferences such as this one and through expanded involvement with the United Nations."

FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact:
IPU Press Officer:Robin Newmann, Cairo International Conference Centre,
tel. (202) 2600094; fax (202) 2600076