Speaker meets UAE counterpart

The Fijian Parliament Speaker, Hon. Dr Jiko Luveni yesterday met with her counterpart the Speaker of the Federal National Council of the United Arab Emirates, Hon. Dr Amal Al Qubaisi.

The meeting was to discuss the upcoming Global Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament, which will be held in Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from 12 to 13 December 2016.

The Summit is jointly organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Federal National Council and is being held under the theme: “United for Shaping the Future”.

Hon. Dr Amal Al Qubaisi reiterated that the Summit focusses on the role of parliament and women Speakers in mobilising their collective efforts to address the planet’s current and future challenges that affect quality of life and slow progress towards sustainable prosperity.

Hon. Dr Amal Al Qubaisi also emphasised that there were some similiarities between Fiji and UAE and therefore it would be prudent to develop and strenghthen parliamentary relations, with the likelihood of both parliaments agreeing to an MOU.

Hon. Dr Luveni says that she is looking forward to the upcoming Summit as it will a platform where best practices can be shared and it should never be underestimated how beneficial peer learning can be.

Hon. Dr Luveni is also optimistic of further developing and strengthening parliamentary relations between the two parliaments and so the execution of an MOU in the near future would be a good starting point.