Regional inter-parliamentary preparatory meet to be held here

Rwanda is expected to host a preparatory meeting for the upcoming Inter-Parliamentary Forum of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region member countries. The two-day meeting is being prepared by the Rwanda Parliament and scheduled to kick off on Thursday this week. According to a statement from the Parliament, the meeting is expected to draw members of the Executive Committee with the view of preparing the Plenary Session due to be held in June in Nairobi, Kenya. “The meeting will analyse the draft rules of procedure of the Inter-Parliamentary Forum; review the draft document on the composition and operation of the Forum’s Secretariat as well as functions of the Forum staff,” the statement reads in part. The document also states that the Kigali preparatory meeting will review the draft agreement, analyse the draft budget of the forum, and also consider the draft Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) or Cooperative Agreement between the Forum and Association of European Parliamentarians for Africa (AWEPA). The new development comes as an effort to implement the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region Conference (ICGLR) signed in Nairobi on December 15, 2006 by the Heads of State and Government of the ICGLR. An agreement establishing the Inter-Parliamentary Forum of the ICGLR member countries was adopted during the conference of Speakers of Parliaments of the bloc that was held in Kigali late last year. Some of the officials expected to attend the Kigali preparatory meeting include the Chairperson-in-Office of the Forum, Dr. Vincent Biruta, 11 members of the Executive Committee of Parliaments of the ICGLR member States, four members of the Plenary Assembly of Parliament of Rwanda and three members of AWEPA. Others expected to take part in the meeting include members of the ICGLR Executive Secretariat. Member states of the ICGLR are Rwanda, Angola Burundi, Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia. Ends

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Regional inter-parliamentary preparatory meet to be held here