For the past week, parliamentarians from across Asia and the Pacific region gathered in Palikir under the theme of “New Challenges, New Role” to review the current role of APPU as it applies to the ever-changing socio-economic landscape of Asian-Pacific region.
During the course of its sessions, the member parliaments elected FSM Congress Floor Leader Florencio Singkoro Harper as chairman of the 76th Council Meeting and further elected Speaker Isaac V. Figir to preside over the 42nd General Assembly as its president.
On Sept. 8, the 76th Council Meeting reviewed a list of resolutions submitted by member countries for adoption by the 42nd APPU General Assembly. The next day, the 42nd General Assembly adopted five of the eight submitted resolutions, and these included:
• CM76/RES/DR2 – submitted by Palau: a resolution to request all Asian-Pacific Parliamentarians’ Union member countries to recognize Palau as the World’s First Shark Sanctuary and to address shark-finning in the Asian-Pacific Region;
• CM76/RES/DR3 – submitted by Palau: a resolution to urge Asian-Pacific Parliamentarians’ Union member countries to preserve and protect hawksbill turtles and other species of sea turtles in the Asia-Pacific region;
• CM76/RES/DR4/REV1 – submitted by Taiwan: a resolution to state that the Asian-Pacific Parliamentarians’ Union welcomes and supports the participation of Taiwan in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change- Conference of the Parties, or UNFCCC COP-17, and related mechanisms, meetings and activities this year;
• CM76/RES/DR5/REV1 – submitted by Palau: a resolution to state that the Asian-Pacific Parliamentarians’ Union supports Taiwan to obtain the observer status in the UNFCCC and the International Civil Aviation Organization; and
• CM76/RES/DR7 – submitted by FSM: a resolution to support the advancement of the Micronesia Challenge and information sharing that could carry out this resolution and link the same to environmental conservation and climate change funding initiatives of donor countries including but not limited to APPU members.
The adopted resolutions were incorporated into the Joint Communiqué that was signed at the closing ceremony of the APPU 42nd General Assembly on Sept. 9.
The joint communiqué in its entirety is available at www.fsmcongress.fm.
Member countries that participated in the 76th Council Meeting and 42nd General Assembly of the APPU in the FSM included: Japan, Thailand, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Taiwan, Tuvalu, the APPU Secretariat and the host country of the Federated States of Micronesia.
First organized in 1965 as the Asian Parliamentarians’ Union, the union’s main purpose was to achieve and preserve freedom and democracy in order to secure peace and prosperity in Asia.
In 1975, the Union expanded to include the Pacific parliaments to widen its scope and to strengthen solidarity and the force of freedom in the Asian-Pacific region and thus changed its name to Asian-Pacific Parliamentarians’ Union.
