Suo Yara speaks at the tenth session of International Parliament for Tolerance and Peace held in Morocco’s capital Rabat from July 12-16. NA
The International Parliament for Tolerance and Peace (IPTP) voiced support for an initiative to establish a peace and food science institute in Cambodia at the request of a delegation from Cambodia's National Assembly (NA).
An NA delegation from Cambodia led by Suos Yara, chairman of the NA Commission on Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, Propaganda and Information, attended the 10th IPTP session from July 12-16 with the theme “ensuring food security is pre-conditions for global peace and tolerance” in Rabat, Morocco.
The IPTP is a forum for international diplomacy between members of parliaments from around the world founded by the non-profit organisation Global Council for Tolerance and Peace (GCTP), which is based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) but has board members and participants from dozens of countries.
The GCTP's mission statement says that it was formed to combat intolerance and violence globally and that it strongly supports the UN's founding principles, the work of NGOs, international law and multilateralism.
“The IPTP session supports peace in Cambodia and the initiative to call for the establishment of a peace and food science institute at the request of Cambodia to do scientific research and introduce recommendations for the implementation of peace and food security programme.
“The session also requested that governments, parliaments and the private sector, especially partners between the state and the private sector, provide key solutions to challenges of peace and food security,” the NA press release said.
The IPTP session brought together members of parliaments from 65 of the 90 IPTP member countries. At the session, the operational council unanimously appointed Suos Yara as a vice-president of the IPTP and proposed his name to the assembly as a candidate for IPTP president in 2023.
An NA representative said at the session that the most important roles played by members of parliament were to help ensure that humanitarian corridors for food, medicine and other needs stay open to ordinary people at all times.
“We must ensure that production chains, key food and product distribution channels, such as seeds, agricultural fertilizers and fuel are exempt from sanctions,” the representative said.
The president of the Parliament of Morocco confirmed that he had accepted the invitation of NA president Heng Samrin to visit the Kingdom and he will lead a high-level delegation from Morocco to join the 43rd ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly this November in Cambodia, the statement said.
Yong Kim Eng, president of the People's Centre for Development and Peace, said on July 18 that the IPTP resolution supporting the establishment of a peace and food science institute was all well and good, but it was just an idea at this point.
"This is just support. We do not know how much support or in what form the support will come or if any material support would be provided by everyone at the session or just some delegations,” he said.
He added that if the initiative is successful, it would be great for Cambodia to be able to better study food security and prepare to help populations in other countries that are facing shortages or famines.
“However, we see that the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) already estimates annual food supplies and annual food challenges. If this institute is established, how closely it works with FAO or other organizations on the world stage which are already doing this work and have the right experience would be very key,” Kim Eng said.
Back in April, the NA signed a memorandum of understanding with the IPTP to foster cooperation with its other member countries to prevent the return of civil war in countries that have experienced it and to help restore those countries after wars have taken place.
