Saudi Arabia's Shura Council Chairman Dr. Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Ibrahim Al Sheikh won on Friday the best Parliament Speaker award in the Arab world.
He was unanimously chosen in the 24th edition of the meetings of the Arab Parliamentary Excellence Award Committee of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union (APU) Executive Committee.
Friday’s meeting was chaired by head of the Egyptian Parliament's Arab Affairs Committee MP Ahmed Raslan.
The excellence award includes four categories, namely "parliament speakers, best MPs (three seats), the General Secretariat (2 awards) and parliamentary researchers with two seats, explained Raslan.
He also pointed out that Egypt ran one candidate for only one category to pave way for the candidacy of figures from other Arab countries.
Raslan said that the second award of the best three parliamentarians in the Arab world was granted to Michel Moussa, member of the Lebanese parliament, Rakan Yousef, a member of Kuwait’s National Assembly and Samia Hassan Idris, a member of the Sudanese National Assembly.
On the level of general secretariats, Raslan said Lebanon, Sudan and Bahrain have topped the list.
However, this award only goes to two individuals, so it required a vote in which General Secretary of Bahrain’s Shura Council Ibrahim al-Turaif and Secretary General of the Lebanese Parliament Adnan Daher won.
Dr. Ashraf Abdelaziz, chief researcher at the General Secretariat of the Egyptian Parliament’s office, and Dr. Mustafa Naji, head of research in Iraq’s Council of Representatives, were granted the awards of parliamentary researchers in the Arab world, according to Raslan.
The activities of the 24th session of APU’s Executive Committee are scheduled to be launched on Saturday.
The event will start with a speech by the Chairman of the Executive Committee, followed by presenting APU Secretary General’s report.
The 24th edition of the meetings will discuss proposed amendments to the Arab Parliamentary Union Charter and its statute, as well as to the work program draft, the 2019 draft budget, the agenda of the "29th Conference of the Arab Parliamentary Union" and the approval of the list of organizations that will be invited to attend the APU’s upcoming conferences.
The meetings will also discuss the reports, activities and outcomes of meetings of a special committee, most notably the Special Committee of the Legal Team.
