Inter-Parliamentary Union - British Group - PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION FROM LEBANON


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Delegation Reports

PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION FROM
LEBANON :
28 FEBRUARY TO
2 MARCH 2007

Parliamentary Delegation from Lebanon

26 February to 2 March 2007

Delegation

Yassine Jaber
Member of Amal
Chairman of the Lebanese-UK Friendship Parliamentary Group

Dr Ismail Soukkarieh
Loyalty to the Resistance Block

Serge Torsarkissian
Member of the Future Movement

Ali Bazzi
Member of Amal
Walid Khoury Free Patriotic Movement

Kassem Abdel Aziz
Member of the Future Movement

The delegation led by Yassine Jaber, Chairman of the Friendship Parliamentary Group with Britain, arrived at Heathrow at mid-day on Sunday, 25 February. On arrival, they were met by Mr Hassan Abbas from the Embassy of Lebanon and Mr Jim Rodgers of the British Group IPU and taken directly to the Marriott Hotel, County Hall.
As this was the first visit to the UK for some of the delegates, the official programme started on Monday morning with a tour of the Tower of London and was immediately followed by a call on David French, Chief Executive, of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. The WFD has a member of staff located in the Lebanese Parliament and is funding a technical assistance programme that is primarily aimed at capacity building within parliament where they hope, in the first instance, to strengthen budget and finance scrutiny.
The visitors then attended a government lunch at Lancaster House in their honour, hosted by Dr Kim Howells MP, Minister of State for the Middle East, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, who is due to visit Lebanon in the near future. In the afternoon, they attended a presentation on the Procedures in the House of Commons, given by Mark Hutton, Deputy Principal Clerk of the Journal Office. The official welcoming dinner in the evening was hosted by the Rt Hon Ann Clwyd MP. It was held in the library of the Marriott Hotel, County Hall, and attended by members of the British Group. During the course of the meal, the delegates discovered that two separate debates on Middle East topics were due to be held in Westminster Hall the following morning.
Tuesday morning’s timetable was quickly rearranged in order to accommodate the delegation’s desire to attend the debates in Westminster Hall. The first from 9.30am to 11 am was a debate tabled by the Rt Hon Clare Short MP, entitled Lebanon and Syria. The delegation then attended a scheduled meeting with the Rt Hon Sir John Stanley MP and other members of the Foreign Affairs Committee before returning immediately to Westminster Hall to hear the second debate tabled by Mark Pritchard MP on Iran. At the end of the morning, all of the visitors expressed their surprise and delight that so many of our MPs had shown such a detailed understanding of past and recent events not only in Lebanon but also in the whole of the Middle East region. A few compared it to a similar visit to France where they found French MPs expressed little or no knowledge of the region and showed very little interest. They also said that Britain should take a much more active role internationally in Middle East affairs.
Lunch in the Peers’ Dining Room was hosted by Baroness Northover, a member of the IPU delegation who visited the Lebanon in September 2004. During the afternoon, the delegation visited the BBC World Service at Bush House where they were interviewed by staff from the Middle East Section. In the evening, they attended a reception in their honour hosted by the Lord Speaker, the Rt Hon Baroness Hayman who gave a very warm, welcoming speech. Lord Dholakia later hosted a private dinner for the delegates at the Noura restaurant in Curzon Street.
Wednesday started with a two-hour round table discussion with members of the BGIPU hosted by Tim Loughton MP, member of the British Group IPU Executive Committee. The meeting was very well supported with over twenty members of parliament in attendance. The leader of the delegation opened the discussions with a brief summary of events covering the period from the last parliamentary election up to the present. He also commented on a recent phenomenon in Beirut politics - the introduction of large political rallies and demonstrations in which the crowds now disperse peacefully and go home every evening. Lebanese governments have traditionally been based on consensus, and the problem for the present government is how to maintain this consensus given Hizbollah’s demand for greater representation. Differences between Sunni and Shia Moslems are now coming to the fore and both want better representation in the Government. UNSCR1701 and the Sheba’a Farms issue were also discussed in some detail.
Following the talks, the delegates were able to observe Prime Minister’s Questions from the Speaker’s Gallery in the House of Commons. Lunch in the Astor Suite was hosted by John Austin MP, Secretary of the British-Lebanon All Party Parliamentary Group, and here again a lively debate ensued across the dining table. Following lunch, the delegation met the Rt Hon Lord Howell of Guildford, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords and spokesperson on Foreign Affairs. The last meeting of the day was with members of the Defence Committee who had expressed an interest in meeting the delegation to extend their knowledge of the region.
On Thursday morning, the delegation left London by train for Selby in Yorkshire to see how a member of parliament interacts with his constituency. The programme, arranged by John Grogan MP, included a visit to Selby College for lunch and a question-and-answer session with sixth form students and a tour of the Drax power station, the largest and most modern coal-fired power station in Britain. A scheduled call at his constituency office had to be cancelled at the last minute because of flooding from a burst water boiler. In the evening, Mr Grogan hosted a dinner in honour of the delegation at the Parsonage Hotel, Escrick. Guests included the Leader and the Chair of Selby District Council.
Friday, the last day of the official programme, was spent in York with a quick tour of the city centre, a fleeting glance at the Minster and a tour of the Railway Museum. The delegation then called at Ainderby Hall, Thirsk, the home of Lord and Lady Jopling. Lunch was a traditional pub meal at the near by Nag’s Head in Pickhill. Afterwards, the delegation returned to London for a flight back to Beirut.