China's top legislator Li Peng was elected chairman of the Association of Asian Parliaments for Peace (AAPP) at the First Plenary Session of the organization's third annual meeting being held in Chongqing Wednesday.
After the election, the new chairman said the exchanges and dialogues between parliaments of Asian nations would be conducive to facilitating inter-parliamentary relations and the development of state-to-state ties, which would promote peace and stability in the region and the world.
Li, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature, expressed his appreciation for the performance of his predecessor Norodom Ranarith during the past year as AAPP chairman. Ranarith is president of the Cambodian National Assembly.
Li expresse confidence that with joint efforts from all its members the AAPP mechanism would further improve, and its activities would be more rich and colorful.
Ranarith presided over the first half of the plenary session, during which Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the Democratic People'sRepublic of Korea (DPRK), the Philippines and Tajikistan and Bhutan were accepted as new AAPP members.
The second half of the plenary session was presided over by the newly elected chairman Li Peng, who also appointed He Chunlin, secretary-general of China's NPC Standing Committee, as AAPP secretary general.
After the procedure, leaders of delegations from a number of countries spoke at the meeting.
The AAPP was formally launched in September 1999 in Dacca, capital of Bangladesh, and now has 36 member countries.
(Xinhua News Agency April 18, 2002)
