St. Petersburg, Russia. On October 16, 2017, Wesley W. Simina, Speaker of the Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) addressed the world’s parliamentarians gathered at the 137th Inter Parliamentary Union Assembly (IPU) in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, on the assembly’s theme of “promoting cultural pluralism and peace through inter-faith and inter-ethnic dialogue”.
Speaker Simina, speaking after the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church’s blessing of the IPU gathering, began by encouraging world parliamentarians to urge their governments to seek peace through dialogue, further reminding world parliamentarians of the geographic location of Micronesia and the danger of nuclear annihilation given recent nuclear tests and rhetoric.
“[T]he specter of nuclear annihilation has raised its ugly head once again… [i]t does not make for peaceful nights for most of us in Micronesia”, he stated.
Further challenging the world’s parliamentarians to “look for peaceful resolution, through proper dialogue as encouraged by our debate theme – without insults, name calling, and most importantly, without resorting to oversimplification in social media, such as tweeting.”The FSM congressional delegation rose in support of a proposed draft resolution speaking to “the threats to peace and international security arising from nuclear tests” proposed by the delegations from Japan and Mexico.
A resolution addressing “the grave human crisis, persecution and violent attacks on the Royingyas”, which was adopted as emergency item for the assembly, was also supported by the delegation from the FSM Congress, and Speaker Simina in his statement thanked the IPU and the various delegations “for taking concrete actions to address this emergent issue”, further denouncing the unacceptable persecution of peoples because of their ethnicity and religion.
Speaker Simina also reminded the parliamentarians of the imminent threats posed by climate change, and the devastating effects felt in Micronesia, other Small Island States, and parts of the world, calling for “ a need to assist each other”. He highlighted that a “poor country like the FSM…reached out as a matter of international solidarity” to appropriate funds for humanitarian relief efforts to places like Cuba, Mexico, Antigua, Barbuda, and various US States and territories.
Concluding his address, Speaker Simina welcomed Vanuatu, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to IPU, bringing the participating the national parliament membership of IPU to 176. He also thanked outgoing IPU President, Mr. Saber H. Chowdhury, as the IPU geared to elect a new President for the next three years. The current IPU President is now known to be Ms. Gabriela Cuevas Barron of Mexico.
The 137th IPU Assembly brought together a record number of over 2,000 delegates, including 837 Members of Parliaments and 86 Speakers of Parliaments in St. Petersburg, Russia from October 14-18, 2017. The delegation from the FSM Congress led by Speaker Wesley W. Simina included Vice Speaker Esmond B. Moses, Senator Alik L. Alik, Senator Isaac V. Figir, Legislative Counsel T. Lam Dang, and Information Officer Andy Choor.
For more information and other FSM Congress News, please visit www.cfsm.fm.
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