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"speaker_name": "Sen. Kathuri",
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"content": "JPA Co-President Carlos Zorino from the European Parliament; and, Ana Rita Sithole from OACPS Parliament. During the opening session, His Excellency Hon. William Samoei Ruto, PhD, CGH, President of the Republic of Kenya, and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces delivered a recorded video keynote speech as the outgoing President of OACPS and member of the OACPS, Kenya Troika handover the Presidency of OACPS to Angola during the 10th OACPS Summit in December, 2022. Kenya will remain in the Troika until December, 2025. The President highlighted the limited capacity of the JPA due to its lack of legislative power and reiterated the need to overcome this challenge for the effective functioning of the JPA. He concluded by restating Kenya’s commitment towards rule- based international order, multilateralism, and peaceful resolution to conflicts. After the opening ceremony, two delegates ensued, featuring input from the EU Commissioner for International Partnership, Jutta Urpilainen and Prof. Fabrizio Cardone, a Political Science Professor at the University of Glasgow. The United Kingdom was represented in the opening ceremony by Commissioner Urpilainen, who in her address to the Assembly, delineated the various partnership packages tailored to ACP regions through the Global Gateway Africa with OACPS to ensure that people and communities remain central in efforts to address the inequality. The debate topics revolved around the renewed vigour of the partnership between OACPS and the EU. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as you are aware, we attend OACPS sessions as Members of the Senate and also the National Assembly. If you recall, we have attended several sessions with you. I think twice in Brussels, Belgium. All the issues that have been recorded here are facts on what our deliberations have always been. I want to make a summary of the remaining bit. The Samoa Agreement provides for creation of regional parliamentary assemblies that comprise countries from Africa, the Pacific, the Caribbean, and the EU. This is a replica of what our colleague, Sen. Mungatana, is doing in the Pan-African Parliament (PAP). The Samoa Agreement requests that we should have these regional parliamentary assemblies so that we can discuss our issues. We should have these Regional Parliamentary Assemblies so that we can discuss our issues since we are affected by similar problems and challenges. Thus, when we have Parliamentary Assemblies in the regions we can canvass our issues in a better way. The Regional Parliamentary Assemblies are co-chaired by a Member of the European Parliament on one hand and a Member of Parliament from the respective African, Caribbean or Pacific Parties nominated as Chair on the other hand. The African region elected a Member of Parliament from Mozambique, Hon. Ana Rita Sithole while the European Parliament elected Mr. Carlos Zorrinho to represent the parties as Co- Chairs. The first plenary session took place on Sunday, 18th February, 2024 to elect the bureau members consisting of two co-presidents of the European Union (EU) and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and the members of the respective regional assemblies. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}