MANILA, 31 March 2005— Eleven members of Kingdom’s Shoura Council are expected to attend next week’s Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) assembly in Manila, the Saudi Embassy in Manila said yesterday. The delegation will be headed by Dr. Mohammed ibn Ibrahim Al-Hulwah, the embassy’s information officer, Hashim Jeffrey, told Arab News.
At least 1,500 delegates from all over the world have confirmed attendance in the assembly, which will be held in the Philippines for the first time since the IPU was established in 1889.
Hashim said the other members of the group arriving on Friday are Gen. Abdal Qadir ibn Abdul Haye Kamal, Dr. Hussein ibn Mohammad Al-Alawi, Ahmed ibn Yusef Al-Turki, Dr. Kadhi ibn Mohammed Al-Aqeeli, Dr. Muhsin ibn Mohammed Al-Tameem, Abdulhakeem ibn Mohammed Al-Moammar, and Dr. Abdulrahman ibn Ahmed Al-Jafary.
Also in the embassy list are Ibrahim ibn Abdul Aziz Alzahim, Mohammed ibn Hamad Albrahim, and Mohammed ibn Nasser Al-Saeed.
None of the participants, which include 45 heads of parliament, who had confirmed their attendance, had canceled their trip following travel advisories by the United Kingdom, United States and Australia warning of terror attacks in Metro Manila and Mindanao.
“So far we have not received any cancellations,” said Carmen Razon-Arce?o, chair of the organizing committee for the hosting of the IPU, also director general of the Office of International Relations and Protocol at the Senate.
Comprised of the parliaments of sovereign states, the union serves as a forum for worldwide parliamentary dialogues, the establishment of democracy and peace in the world, among other objectives.
Topping next week’s conference agenda is the protection of women and children, and migration. IPU assemblies are held twice a year. The next conference is set for September in Geneva.
Officials said the government is spending 17 million pesos to repair and refurbish the Cultural Center of the Philippines complex in Pasay City, site of the Philippine International Convention Center whee the assembly will be held.
Arce?o said the first 20 delegates arrived even before the Holy Week from Switzerland, Finland and the Netherlands and took the chance to see the outlying provinces, going as far as Boracay in the Visayas. The first registered delegate was Hermann Burgi, a member of the Swiss Council of States, who flew in with his wife on March 23.
