Luanda - The Speaker of the National Assembly (AN), Carolina Cerqueira, on Monday in the Province of Luanda said that the partnership between the countries of African, the Caribbean and the Pacific States (OACPS) and the European Union, relaunched by the Samoa Agreement, should be a priority and urgent issue on the agendas of parliaments.
Speaking at the official reception given to the delegates to the Constituent Assemblies of the OACPS-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, she stressed that the voice of parliamentarians, more than ever, must be affirmed as the builder of solid bridges to strengthen dialogue, peace, tolerance and concord.
The Angolan parliament leader said she was convinced that, starting in the meeting of Luanda, OACPS-EU institutional relations would experience new dynamics and a more inclusive framework for the goals of the states and the articulation of their objectives.
She expressed the need to respect the reality of the respective countries, always aiming for the supreme value of peace, “a fundamental path to equity, justice, good governance, social and human development."
Carolina Cerqueira expressed her happiness that, 15 years later, the Angolan parliament had hosted a Joint Parliamentary Assembly event uniting the peoples of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, as well as the European Union.
"We believe that these moments are an opportunity to strengthen our institutional ties and to reunite parliamentarians who for years have been committed to strengthening ties and affections in order to reduce distances and unite our communities and respective peoples," he emphasised.
He also considered the event an opportunity to boost relations and contacts from a generational and gender representative perspective.
She stressed that it is a privilage and honour for the National Assembly for a short period of time to receive parliamentary delegations from all the continents after last year October it has hosted the 147th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), Ms. Ana Rita Sithole, thanked President João Lourenço, who had agreed to hold the 64th OACP Parliamentary Assembly in the Angolan capital and to set up the 1st OACP-EU Session under the Samoa Agreement.
She also expressed her appreciation towards Carolina Cerqueira for her leadership skills, for whom when women are given space for political participation and leadership remarkable results can be achieved.
The Joint Parliamentary Assembly is a permanent body with consultative functions.
The OACPS-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly is co-chaired, on the European side, by Carlos Zorrinho, a Portuguese MEP, and, on the OACPS side, by Anita Rita Sithole, a Mozambican deputy.
The OACPS brings together around 1.5 billion people from three continents and 79 countries, 48 from Sub-Saharan Africa, 16 from the Caribbean and 15 from the Pacific, which makes this organization a significant force in the concert of nations.
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