Morocco’s Lower, Upper Houses Speakers Receive IPU President, SG

The Speaker of the House of Representatives Rachid Talbi El Alami and the Speaker of the House of Councillors Enaam Mayara received, , on Tuesday in Marrakech, the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Duarte Pacheco and the IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong. On this occasion, the IPU President and SG hailed the Royal Message addressed by HM King Mohammed VI to the participants in the Parliamentary Conference on “Interfaith dialogue: working together for our common future”, organized by the Moroccan Parliament and the IPU in Marrakech from June 13 to 15, said a press release by the Parliament. In this message, HM the King emphasized “the need to set a joint mechanism, to be coordinated by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, whose mission would be to make interfaith dialogue a common, lofty goal for the entire international community. That goal should be defended in international forums and considered one of the key principles of democratic governance in parliamentary practice, as well as an indicator of respect for pluralism and cultural diversity,” recalled the press release. In this respect, the IPU President and Secretary General stressed the importance of creating a special mechanism for interfaith dialogue within IPU bodies, which could take the form of a committee within the Union. They also expressed the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s readiness to follow up on the proposals put forward in this respect, especially as the Union intends to amend its Rules of Procedure in the near future, according to the same source. In addition, the IPU President and Secretary General thanked the Kingdom and the Moroccan Parliament for the successful organization of this conference, which is the very first global parliamentary conference to bring together parliamentarians, religious leaders, politicians, civil society representatives, researchers and experts to discuss interfaith dialogue.