Report of the Canadian Parliamentary Delegation
to the Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Working Group

1.    Introduction

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is the focal point for world-wide parliamentary dialogue and works for peace and cooperation among peoples and for the firm establishment of representative democracy. In recent years the Union has solidified its role as the lead organization though which parliamentarians may promote and debate issues of global importance to civil society. 

Article 25 of the Statutes and Rules of the Inter-Parliamentary Union permits members of the IPU to form geopolitical groups.  These groups play an important role in the functioning and activities of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). 

There are six geopolitical groups formally recognized by the IPU: the African Group (42 members), the Asia-Pacific Group (27 members), the Arab Group (19 members), the Eurasia Group (7 members), the Latin American Group (19 members) and the Twelve Plus Group (45 members). Each group decides on working methods that best suit its participation in the activities of the Union and informs the Secretariat of its composition, the names of its officers, and its rules of procedure.

Canada belongs to the Asia-Pacific Group and the Twelve Plus Group.

2.    Background on the Asia-Pacific Group

Given Canada’s active trade connections with the Asia-Pacific region, the Canadian IPU Group requested formal membership in the Asia-Pacific Group (APG) in September 1997 and was admitted soon thereafter on the occasion of the 98^th IPU Assembly in Cairo, Egypt.

The purpose of the APG is to promote greater regional identification and cooperation, as well as encourage coordinated positions on issues presented before IPU assemblies and meetings of the IPU Governing Council. The membership of the APG is open to all national parliaments from the Asia-Pacific region represented at IPU assemblies and related meetings. At the close of the 120^th IPU Assembly the Group had 27 members.

The Asia Pacific Group holds meetings on a regular basis during the IPU’s spring and fall Assemblies. These meetings provide a venue for the Group’s members to discuss the functioning of the Assembly and related meetings. Members also use these meetings to discuss administrative and substantive matters of consequence to the future activities of the Union.

The chairmanship of the APG is rotated by alphabetical order of the member-parliaments on a yearly basis with the officers – a First Vice-Chair and Second Vice-Chair – selected on an alphabetical basis.

According to the Rules of Procedure of the Asia Pacific Group, The Chair shall be supported in his/her work by a Working Group which shall advise him/her and promote the fulfillment of his/her tasks. This Working Group, which is chaired by the Chair of the APG, includes the following members: the two most recent predecessors of the current APG Chair and Officers (as long as they are members of their national IPU delegation or, alternatively, have a seat in their parliament); members of the APG serving on the Executive Committee (including the President of the Council of the Union); further members, invited by the Chairperson on account of their particular abilities or merits, who could benefit the activities of the APG as a whole.

3.    The Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Working Group

Six parliamentarians participated in the meeting of the Asia-Pacific Working Group in Beijing, China on 20 March 2009. The countries represented were: Canada, China, the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia and Viet Nam.

The Canadian parliamentarian in attendance was Senator Donald H. Oliver, Q.C., from the Senate of Canada.

The agenda for the meeting included issues and questions for consideration by the Asia-Pacific Group at the 120^th IPU Assembly (Addis Ababa, 5-10 April 2009). The purpose of the meeting was to debate and make recommendations concerning these matters. The attached appendix summarizes the decisions taken by the Committee on the occasion of its meeting in Beijing.

Respectfully submitted,