Over 25 speakers, 10 vice-speakers to participate in Tehran IPU meeting

An Iranian Parliamentary official underlined on Wednesday that Iran's vital position in the region and its good performance on the international scenes have persuaded approximately all Muslim states to dispatch their top parliamentarians to the upcoming Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Conference in Tehran. Iranian Parliament Speaker’s advisor for international affairs Hossein Sheikholeslam announced over 25 parliament speakers, 10 vice-speakers, and 50 parliamentary delegations are to participate in the 9th Meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Inter-Parliamentary Union which will start work in Tehran on February 14. The first three days of the meeting will be held at the level of experts and the Muslim world parliament speakers will take part in the event in the last two days. “Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameron, Chad, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Oman, Pakistan , Palestine, Senegal, Syria, Tajikistan, Togo, Turkey, Yemen, Algeria, Comoros, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Uganda, the UAE, Sudan, Kyrgyzstan and Libya are the countries which have so far confirmed their presence in the OIC parliamentary meeting,” Sheikholeslam said on Saturday. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, formerly Organization of the Islamic Conference, was established in 1969 and has 57 members. The organization aims to promote dialogue between Islamic countries and the rest of the world and also protect the interests of Muslims when necessary. The OIC Parliamentary Union has 53 members.