UAE to raise issue of islands on IPU agenda

The UAE has submitted a request for the inclusion in the agenda of the 123rd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) of an emergency item entitled ‘The importance of international inter-parliamentary cooperation for natural disaster response, in particular with regard to relief aid to flood-stricken Pakistan’, which will take place from October 4 to 6 in Geneva, a senior UAE official has said.

Rashid Mohammed Al Shuraiqi, member of the Federal National Council and member of the IPU Executive Committee, said the emergency item had been well received.

In an interview with Wam, Al Shuraiqi said the UAE would seek support for this request from Gulf and Arab delegates out of its belief that such disasters have far-reaching consequences on the international political and economic order and social fabric of the affected countries, therefore posing real threats to world security and stability.

He said the UAE will also take part in the 187th meeting of the IPU Governing Council.

He added that the UAE delegates will also raise the issues of the three UAE islands - the Greater Tunb, The Lesser Tunb and Abu Mousa - occupied by Iran, at the IPU debate.

“There is a strong sympathy with these fair issues and we will call IPU member states to back the UAE demand for ending the Iranian occupation of the islands and returning them to their original proprietor,” he said.

The UAE, he affirmed, demands her right to these islands through the international arbitration through the International Court of Justice as the UAE political leadership believes in the peaceful solution and negotiations to end the Iranian occupation and get back its legitimate right.

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