Speaker of the House of Representatives Habib El Malki took part, Monday in Bangkok, in the 40th General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), where he formally called for granting Morocco an observer status within the body. El Malki also met, on the sidelines of this general assembly, with counterparts from member countries of this regional grouping on bilateral cooperation and ways to further involve parliamentary diplomacy. Morocco is the only Arab and African country to participate in this assembly and is moving towards obtaining an observer status within the AIPA. Speaking at the plenary opening session of this assembly, which will run until Friday, El Malki welcomed the participation of Morocco in this inter-parliamentary meeting, expressing the will of the Kingdom to strengthen its cooperation with this important region and involve parliamentary diplomacy in this regard. «We have the status of Mediterranean partner in the NATO parliamentary assembly, the status of partner for democracy in the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, in addition to the observer status in most sub-regional parliamentary assemblies in Latin America», said El Malki. On the sidelines of this meeting, El Malki, who was accompanied by Morocco's Ambassador in Bangkok Abdelilah El Housni, met with several counterparts from AIPA member countries as well as with senior officials from legislative institutions of ASEAN member countries. He also held bilateral meetings with Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, chairwoman of the National Assembly of Vietnam and Tan Chuan-Jin, Speaker of the Parliament of Singapore.
