The 8th General Assembly of the ICAPP will be held in Colombo from Sept.18-21, 2014 under the auspices of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP). As the host country, Sri Lanka selected “Building an Asian Community” as the main theme of the conference.
Welcome reception will be hosted by Maithripala Sirisena, Minister of Health, General Secretary of Sri Lanka Freedom Party, and Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the 8th General Aseembly of the ICAPP on Sept.18 at Cinnamon Grand Hotel and thereafter the 23rd Meeting of the ICAPP Standing Committee will take place.
The opening ceremony of ICAPP will take place at the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre.
The invitation to host this year’s ICAPP was made in July last year when Secretary General of the Standing Committee of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) Chung Eui-yong met President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Eui-yong during the discussion said other ICAPP members were “very enthusiastic” about the possibility of Sri Lanka hosting the next conference.
Approximately 100 different political parties from across Asia are expected to attend the high-level conference.
The International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) was launched in Manila in September 2000 to promote exchanges and cooperation between political parties from different Asian countries and with various ideologies; to enhance mutual understanding and trust among Asian countries; to promote Asia’s regional cooperation through the unique role and channel of political parties.
Since its inception, the ICAPP has grown steadily in both membership and influence. At first, few people thought that it would be possible to bring together competing governing, opposition and independent political parties in Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, Middle East and Oceania.
The ICAPP meetings have been visionary, cordial, constructive and successful. Simply by bringing together Asia’s political leaders in fraternal assemblies regularly, the ICAPP has become a positive force for mutual understanding among Asian countries and peoples. And now more than 364 political parties in 53 countries in the region with diverse political and ideological backgrounds are eligible to participate in ICAPP activities.
Seven General Assemblies of the ICAPP, which have been successfully held in Manila in 2000, Bangkok in 2002, Beijing in 2004, Seoul in 2006, Astana in 2009, Phnom Penh in 2010 and Baku 2012, brought together political leaders in the region to exchange opinions and communicate with each other, and helped strengthen unity among Asian countries and propel Asia along the road toward stability and prosperity.
The ICAPP Standing Committee, which is comprised of the leading political parties from 22 countries representing different sub-regions of Asia, has also been meeting regularly, more than twice a year since 2004, to organize ICAPP activities and programs in an effective and concerted way.
In recognition of the ICAPP’s role in bringing together all political parties to promote understanding and friendship among countries not only in Asia, but also in Latin America and Africa, several governments in the region, including Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Iran, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka and Vietnam have signed the inter-governmental “MOU on Cooperation to Support the Activities of the ICAPP” in 2013. Now many more governments, including Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand and Turkey, are in the process of completing their domestic procedures to join the MOU.
The ICAPP will continue to play a key role not only in Asia’s inevitable movement to build an Asian community, but also in the global quest for a more peaceful and prosperous world. (kh)
