Cong. Divina Grace Yu of the 1st District of Zamboanga del Sur proudly represented the Philippines during the Asian Parliamentary Assembly held in Antalya, Turkey from December 13 to December 18.
Cong. Yu, Chairperson of the Committee on Inter-Parliamentary Relations and Diplomacy of the 18th Congress, was among the representatives who spoke before the 42 APA member states and 16 observer countries during the 12th Plenary Session on December 15.
She was with Cong. Maria Theresa Collantes, Vice Chair for the same committee.
In her privilege speech, Yu emphasized the growing importance of interdependence and regional cooperation as keys to achieving peace and development in Asia.
She said that the assembly has built a strategic position wherein Asian governments can actively engage in its own affairs and make crucial decisions on strictly Asian matters.
“We continue to develop an order defined by equality, cooperation, mutual benefit and mutual assistance on the basis of our common interests,” the legislator added.
In the end, the Zamboanga del Sur representative challenged the member parliaments to harmonize their different interests through diplomatic interactions, where tensions can be ironed out and agreements are forged leading to the gaining of valuable insights.
This year, the assembly carried the theme “The Role of Multilateral Cooperation Among Asian Parliaments” which highlighted its long term perspective of attaining the status of an Asian common legislative mechanism.
The Asian Parliamentary Assembly was established in 2006 which focuses in coordinating national parliaments’ efforts to address modern challenges through enhancing their role in promoting peace in the Asian region.
Each APA member parliament has a specific number of seats in the Assembly based on the size of their population. Members of the APA Plenary are elected by members of member parliaments, according to its official webpage.
