Islamabad, February 22, 2022: As a result of effective parliamentary diplomacy and concerted efforts by Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser, National Assembly of Pakistan gets Observer Status in the ASEAN Inter-parliamentary Assembly (AIPA). According to announcement by the Secretariat of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamemtary Assembly (AIPA), 42nd AIPA General Assembly held in Brunei Darrusalam, approved the accreditation of the National Assembly of the Pakistan to the AIPA as an observer.

The AIPA comprises the parliaments of the 10 ASEAN Member countries as well as sixteen observer parliaments which now include the National Assembly of Pakistan.

The AIPA aims to encourage understanding, cooperation and close relations among its Member Parliaments and Observer Member Parliaments/Parliamtary Organizations.

With the presence of parliaments including Australia, Canada, China, Japan and the European Parliament, Pakistan will tremendously benefit from the AIPA by fosterings its bilateral and multilateral ties with the parliaments of the region and beyond through the platform of AIPA.

The National Assembly of Pakistan has been seeking observer status at the AIPA since 2017. However, the decision on the request could not be taken by the AIPA Secretariat because the charter of AIPA was silent on granting observer status to non-ASEAN countries. Nevertheless, with the continued and effective parliamentary diplomacy and contacts under the leadership of Speaker Asad Qaiser , the National Assembly of Pakistan succeeded in altering guidelines of AIPA in its favour and remained successful in acquisition of observer status.