Iran Parliament Speaker Arrives In Khartoum

Tehran, Jan 21, IRNA -- Iranian Majlis (Parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani heading a high-ranking parliamentary delegation arrived in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Sunday to attend Islamic Inter-Parliamentary Union (IIPU) meeting. Speaking to reporters prior to his departure for Sudan, Larijani said the Palestine issue will be one of the important issues to be discussed at the upcoming meeting of IIPU. He said the IIPU is one of the very important institutions charged with consulting and making joint decisions by parliaments of the Muslim countries. Noting that the Islamic Republic of Iran is founder of the IIPU, speaker said the IIPU meeting would discuss the Quds issue from cultural point of view as well as the Zionists’ attempts to destroy some sacred places there. He added that different IIPU committees are active in the fields of human rights, environment, women’s rights and economy and would offer outcome of their decisions to the IIPU meeting so that due decisions would be made on the issues. Larijani said reviewing the violation of the rights of women and children in the occupied lands is among other issues highlighted by the women’s rights committee of the session. “Regional issues, especially those taking place in the wake of Islamic Awakening movements, will be among other subjects to be discussed in the meeting,” he said. Larijani is accompanied by a number of Iranian lawmakers and the deputy foreign minister for consular, parliamentary and Iranian expatriates’ affairs Hassan Ghashghavi. He is scheduled to brief the meeting on Iran’s stands on the latest regional and international developments. The meeting will begin in Sudan later on Sunday with the participation of parliament speakers and parliamentary officials of 50 Islamic countries. Larijani is to hold talks with a number of his counterparts on the sidelines of the meeting. An Iranian parliamentary delegation composed of lawmakers Kazem Jalali and Ali Abdullazadeh had traveled to Sudan earlier on Wednesday. IIPU was founded by Iran with an aim of promoting parliamentary cooperation among Islamic countries and it has held seven meetings successfully so far./end