TURKPA attended 17th PUIC Conference
January 29, 2023

On 29-30 January 2023, the 17th Session of the Conference of the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States (PUIC) under the theme “The Islamic World and challenges of modernity and development” hosted by the Parliament of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria took place in Algiers.

TURKPA delegation led by Secretary General Mehmet Süreyya Er attended the event in the capacity of observer. PUIC delegations of the TURKPA member parliaments attended the 17th Conference as well.

In her speech at the 17th Conference, Speaker of Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova stated that building and developing bilateral and multilateral cooperation with Islamic countries has always been among the key priorities of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy. Speaker Gafarova also said she trusted that the participating states of the Non-Aligned Movement’s Parliamentary Network established at the proposal of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, İlham Aliyev and of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation resolved to build up mutually advantageous collaboration by having signed a memorandum of cooperation at the current conference and granted each other the observer status.

In the scope of the visit, Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova had a meeting with Chairman of the People’s National Assembly of the Algeria Ibrahim Boughali. During this meeting Mr. Boughali drew attention to the restoration of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and remarked that his people, too, had experienced similar developments in a certain period of their history and so completely understood the pride of the Azerbaijani people felt about their victory.

He also added that the Algerian legislature supports the Parliamentary Network of the Non-Aligned Movement and ready to promote cooperation within its framework. Mrs. Gafarova informed in detail the head of the People’s National Assembly about the operations of the Parliamentary Network of the Non-Aligned Movement and the tasks lying ahead of the Network.

In his speech at the 17th Conference, Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye Mustafa Şentop noted that Türkiye has "a human-oriented approach" in relations with African countries within the framework of the principle of unity, contrary to the Western perspective. Mr. Şentop emphasized that Turkish people has historical, cultural and religious ties with a significant part of the people living in African countries. He also stressed that during the visit of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to Türkiye many important agreements were signed and later Türkiye-Algeria relations began to develop in many aspects. Beyond bilateral ties, Algeria-Türkiye relations has the potential to create "a great synergy" in Africa, the Mediterranean region and the Islamic world, he said.

During his meetings with Chairman of the People’s National Assembly Ibrahim Boughali and Chairman of The Council of the Nation Salah Goudjil, Mustafa Şentop noted that he handed over the Term Presidency to Algeria at the 16th Conference of PUIC hosted by GNAT in Istanbul. In the course of the meetings the parties had discussions on improving inter-parliamentary relations in the context of Türkiye-Algeria relations.

The agenda included report of the PUIC Secretary General, addresses by the Speakers, Vice-Speakers, Heads of delegations and Observers, as well as other organisational matters of PUIC General and Executive Committees.

The 17th Conference was concluded with adoption of the Algiers Declaration by the Speakers of Parliaments and Heads and Members of Delegations of the Parliaments of the OIC Member States.