About the APA
The Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) was born in 2006 at the Seventh Session of the Association of Asian Parliamentary for Peace (AAPP) which was established in 1999. The APA comprises of 44 Member Parliaments and 14 observers as of 2019. Each Member Parliament has a specific number of votes in the Assembly based on the size of their population. The APA Charter and Tehran Declaration lay out a vision and framework of cooperation among Asian countries, towards an Asian Integration.
Background
The Association of Asian Parliaments for Peace grew out of the collective desire and concerted effort of legislators and members of civil society in Asia to promote peace in general and in the Asian region, in particular.
The AAPP was established in September 1999 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to promote unity toward the single purpose of peace and a concrete framework for regional cooperation to strengthen human rights protection and democracy. The AAPP was to cultivate strategies for the realization of peace and the right to development as well as social, cultural, and environmental rights of the people in Asia.
• The First AAPP General Assembly was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh in September 1999.
• The Second AAPP General Assembly was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on November 5-10, 2000.
• The Third AAPP General Assembly was held in Beijing and Chongqing on April 16-19, 2002.
• The Fourth AAPP General Assembly was held in Manila, Philippines on August 31 - September 4, 2003.
• The Fifth AAPP General Assembly was held in Islamabad, Pakistan on November 29 – December 3, 2004.
• The Sixth AAPP General Assembly was held in Pattaya, Kingdom of Thailand in 2005.
• The Seventh AAPP General Assembly and the First APA Plenary were held in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran from 12 to 14 November 2006.
• At the Seventh Session, AAPP was transformed into Asian Parliaments Assembly (APA) in pursuit of peace based on justice and of closer Asian parliamentary cooperation.
President
At the first Plenary session of APA, based on Article 11 of the APA Charter, the Hon. Speaker of the Islamic Parliament of IRAN, Dr. Haddad Adel was elected as the first President of the APA for a two-year term of office.
Secretariat
Based on rule 40 of the rules of procedure, the Headquarters of the APA Permanent Secretariat shall be at Tehran. Accordingly, the Hon. Dr. Haddad Adel, the president of the APA, appointed H.E. Dr. Hadi Nejad Hosseinian, as the Secretary General of the APA. Upon termination of his duties on 2016, H.E. Dr. Mohammad Reza Majidi was appointed as APA Secretary General. This appointment was approved by ninth APA Plenary session in Cambodia 2016.