India is known for respecting political & religious convictions of citizens: Duarte Pacheco
New Delhi : Duarte Pacheco, President of the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) said India’s commitment towards implementation of sustainable growth models has been exemplary and is now shared by many democratic countries around the World.
Addressing Indian Parliamentarians in the Central Hall of Parliament today, Mr. Pacheco said both India and Portugal share deep relationship based on common grounds of parliamentary democracy. He said India is and in all levels, from local to national, is looking to be more inclusive with active participation from women and youth. The IPU President said that India, the largest democracy of the world known to respect convictions both political & religious of every person.
Talking about the Global Pandemic of COVID-19, Mr. Pacheco thanked Indian leadership for reaching out to many countries across the world ensuring supply of COVID related drugs and Vaccines. He assured India of Portugal’s support towards India’s permanent membership at UN Security Council.
Welcoming Mr. Pacheco , Speaker of Lok Sabha Om Birla said that Parliaments of every country should respect sovereign decisions taken by other countries. He said legislative bodies of other countries should not indulge in discussing decisions taken by Parliaments of other countries which in a way undermines the essence of democracy.
Mr. Birla said, India has successfully conducted 17 General elections and over 400 state assembly elections, establishing the country’s strong belief in the democratic system. Mr. Pacheco is on a week long visit to India on the invitation of Parliament of India and witnessed the functioning of Rajya Sabha yesterday.
Later in the day today, Mr. Pacheco will have an interaction with the Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs. Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) espouses for the cause of promoting democracy across the world and taking up issues of International importance. India has been an active member of IPU since 1949 with Najma Heptulla and G S Dhillon also serving the International body as presiding officers. IPU is one of oldest and largest International Parliamentary bodies consisting of 179 members with its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.