IPU PRESIDENT TO VISIT THE MIDDLE EAST

The President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Dr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, travels tomorrow to the Middle East for a tour of the region. He starts the visit in Sharm El-Sheikh, where he will hold talks with the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mr. Mahmoud Abbas.

President Gurirab will attend the international conference in support of the Palestinian economy for the reconstruction of Gaza. He will be received by President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and several visiting dignitaries.

The IPU President, who is accompanied by the IPU Secretary General, Mr. Anders B. Johnsson, will visit Gaza and Ramallah on 3 and 5 March.  Dr. Gurirab said he was “pleased to accept the invitation to visit Palestine and hold talks with President Abbas and the Palestinian leadership".

"I expect to learn of their efforts to unite the Palestinian people and to explore with them how best the IPU can be of assistance, including by way of helping to build a strong Palestinian Parliament and rebuild its office in Gaza which was destroyed ", he added.

The visit of the IPU President is part of the follow up of the recommendations formulated by the IPU Executive Committee at its recent extraordinary session in Geneva. The IPU President will present a report of his visit to the next IPU Assembly, which will be held in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) from 5 to 10 April 2009.

During his mission, the IPU President will also visit Cairo and Jordan for talks with the Speakers of the two countries, Mr. Ahmed Fathy Sorour and Mr. Abdulhadi Al-Majali, as well as with the Speaker of the Palestine National Council, Mr. Saleem Al-Za’noon.  He will conclude his tour of the region in Muscat (Oman), on 7 and 8 March, where he will hold talks with the Speakers of all the Arab Parliaments present at the Conference of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union.