Rabat — Morocco’s House of Councillors signed cooperation agreements with Pakistan and Lesotho during the 3rd South-South Parliamentary Cooperation Forum held in Rabat on April 28-29.
House of Councillors President Mohamed Ouled Errachid met with his counterparts Youssef Reda Jilali from Pakistan and Mamonaheng Mokitimi from Lesotho to sign the agreements.
According to an official statement, these pacts aim to strengthen parliamentary dialogue and improve bilateral relations between the nations.
The agreements focus on promoting legislative and technical cooperation through parliamentary friendship groups and the institutional frameworks of their legislative bodies.
The signatory parties reaffirmed their commitment to developing initiatives that build parliamentary staff capabilities through conferences, forums, seminars, internship programs, and workshops.
The countries will also exchange information on priority issues, parliamentary procedures, and institutional processes.
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Another key goal of the agreements is defending common interests in multilateral parliamentary bodies at regional, continental, and international levels.
New Network of Secretaries General
On Tuesday, Al Assad Zerouali, Secretary General of the Councillors, chaired the founding meeting of the Network of Secretaries General, established through the South-South Parliamentary Dialogue Forum.
Zerouali described this initiative as “a framework conducive to exchanges, dialogue, and finding solutions to improve the institutional performance of member councils.”
The meeting was a platform to establish consultation and coordination mechanisms that “lay the groundwork for inter-institutional cooperation for modern parliamentary diplomacy.”
The Network aims to create a regular institutional space for dialogue and experience sharing among secretaries general, strengthen human and administrative capabilities of legislative councils, and develop joint initiatives to modernize parliamentary administration and increase its effectiveness.
Several secretaries general from legislative institutions representing the four main geopolitical regions of South, namely Africa, the Arab world, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia, lauded this initiative to create the Network of Secretaries General.
