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Speaker of Parliament, the Rtd. Hon. Alban S.K. Bagbin has cautioned Members of the House to beware the Parliamentary Friendship Associations is governed by law and regulations.
He, therefore, directed that all members procure copies of the rules and regulation to ensure they conduct themselves as required by the code.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Management Committee for the Parliamentary Friendship Associations on Wednesday 23rd June 2021 in Parliament, the Speaker charged members to revitalize the groups and provide them with a new lease of life.
He tasked the Management Committee to ensure the groups that will be established under the Association will become very useful tools in the quest to derive maximum benefits from efforts in parliamentary diplomacy.
The Associations, he said, offer a good platform for acquiring best practices to boost the practice and procedures of legislatures.
He urged Members of Parliament to avail themselves of the opportunity to join various Parliamentary Friendship Associations when advertised by the Management Committee and urged them to show genuine interest in the affairs of their partner countries in order to have real interaction.
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According to him, the interactive roles of the Parliamentary Friendship Associations offers members the opportunity to become exposed to practices from each other’s legislature, which eventually influence their contribution to debate in their respective legislatures.
Personal contacts, he said, between members of parliament of different countries enhance mutual understanding and establish alternative channels, beneficial for bilateral relations between countries.
He said, “Such contacts can be useful to place national problems in context, as well as to initiate activities including those aimed at peace, security, and strengthening democracy and human rights, economic development, improving education and social conditions of their respective countries.”
“I will, therefore, urge Members of Parliament to avail yourselves of this opportunity to join various Parliamentary Friendship Associations when they are advertised by the Management Committee.
“I also appeal to Hon. members of the Friendship Association to show genuine interest in the affairs of their partner countries in order to have real interaction with them.”
He disclosed that by the end of the 7th Parliament, Friendship Associations have been established with 38 countries, which involved several exchanges.
He stated that attendance of members of the Diplomatic Corps reaffirms the unwavering bond of friendship and excellent relations between Parliament and their respective countries.
Dean of the Diplomatic Corps and Colombian Ambassador to Ghana, Claudia Turbay Quintero, congratulated Ghana’s Parliament for inaugurating the Management Committee.
This step, she said, offers an enabling platform for creating integration and alliances with countries from different continents as well as other African countries and expressed the Corps desire to promote institutional relationships and at the same time person to person relationship.
The Parliamentary Friendship Associations is a cross-party association of legislators established to promote continued dialogue with Members of other Legislatures.
These Associations enter into bilateral or multilateral relations with their counterparts in other Legislatures.
Five or more Members of Parliament may initiate the establishment of a Parliamentary Friendship Association provided that the country with which they intend to relate is a member of the United Nations, has a Legislature and has diplomatic relations with Ghana.
Frontpageghana.com/Ghana
