More than 100 Members of Parliament from at least fifty countries across Africa, Europe, Pacific, and the Caribbean regions have met in Kigali to discuss regional cooperation in the areas of security, trade, and environmental conservation.

The gathering is being hosted for three days by Rwanda’s Parliament as part of the annual conference of the Alliance of Liberal and Democrat MPs from Europe, Pacific, Africa and Caribbean (ALDEPAC).

Under the theme of: "Enhancing regional cooperation: a liberal solution”, the MPs will discuss how to enhance partnerships to improve security strategies, free trade, and collaboration in tackling environmental challenges.

They will also look at Rwanda’s good governance model and recent reforms at the African Union level such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement signed in Kigali in March.

The President of Rwanda’s Senate, Bernard Makuza, told members of ALDEPAC at the opening of the meeting that legislators need to play their role in ensuring that countries remain together as they work to advance their citizens’ interests.

"Within our oversight mandate, we have to ensure that national laws, conventions, treaties as well as protocols are strictly enforced, so that nothing can get in the way of advancing cooperation,” he said.

Apart from Rwandan MPs, the meeting attracted legislators from Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, DRC, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, as well as Guinea-Bissau and Guinea-Conakry.

Others came from Haiti, Italy, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Chad, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Belgium, Estonia, France, Spain, England, Belgium, France, Sweden, Mauritius, Slovenia and Zimbabwe.

The founder and political coordinator of ALDEPAC, Johan Van Hecke, said that the conference is taking place in Rwanda because of the country’s outstanding development and its empowerment of women.

"Good governance is more than a slogan in Rwanda, with institutions working in the service of citizens,” he said.

He urged legislators at the meeting to play their role in ratifying the AfCFTA, which was adopted by 44 African governments but still needs their ratification in order to be implemented.

"This parliamentary meeting is not neutral. Let’s use this conference to make our humble contribution to the implementation of this historical project,” he said.

At the forum, legislators will also look at how to nurture fruitful cooperation between Africa and Europe to improve security, fight against terrorism, and advance people’s freedoms.

Guy Verhofstadt, former Prime Minister of Belgium and now a leader of liberal MPs in the European Parliament, said that both Africa and Europe need more freedom, more free trade, and more economic success.

He said that the two continents need to cooperate more and move together to achieve more economic prosperity and human security.

"Africa and Europe are natural partners not in the sense of the past where we tried to give lessons. We need to defend our common values of freedom, dignity, and solidarity and we need to do this together,” he said.

As a member of Europe, Pacific, Africa and Caribbean (ACP-EU) group of parliaments, Rwanda Parliament is also member of ALDEPAC as members of ACP-EU are also members of the group.

Members of Parliament who are members of ALDEPAC work to promote regional cooperation in the areas of international trade, peace, politics, and environment, among other priorities.

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