National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang (R) shakes hands with UAE Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan at the National Assembly in Seoul on Feb. 26, 2019, in this photo provided by the Joint Press Corps. (Yonhap)
On February 26, 2019, South Korean National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang met with UAE Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, who arrived in Seoul for a two-day official visit. Speaker Moon remarked that for South Korea UAE is one of the core friendly countries in the region, and cooperation between the two countries is at the best level. He added that the Korean National Assembly will continue to support mutually beneficial cooperation between Korea and UAE in a non-partisan manner.
The Crown Prince responded that South Korea and UAE have a solid, special strategic partnership and described South Korea as “my second home”. He then expressed his hopes for peace on the divided peninsula and success in the North Korea-U.S. Summit in Vietnam, and hoped that such peace will be established in the Middle East as well.
Two leaders discussed a wide range of issues from the 2019 Special Olympics World Summer Games to be held during March in Abu Dhabi, cooperation in the Barakah nuclear power plant and the aviation sector, and an increase in human exchanges between the two countries.
PHOTO: News.am. National Assembly Vice President Alen Simonyan (left) with National Assembly President Ararat Mirzoyan (right).
Armenia’s National Assembly president Ararat Mirzoyan arrived in Moscow for a working visit on February 25 at the invitation of the chairperson of the Russian Federation Council, Velentina Matviyenko. Speaker Mirzoyan visited the Memorial of the Unknown Soldier to pay tribute to the victims of the Great Patriotic War, toured the Armenian education center, and met with representatives of the Armenian community. The Armenian speaker stressed the special role of the Russian Armenian community in the context of strengthening the friendship between the Armenian and Russian peoples.
PHOTO: MEHR News Agency.
In Iran, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced his resignation on February 25 on Instagram. “I am grateful for magnanimity of the dear and courageous people of Iran and the respectable authorities’ over the past 67 months,” Zarif said. “I sincerely apologize for inability to continue [my] service and all the shortcomings and flaws during [my] tenure,” he added.
In response, 135 legislators asked President Rouhani to reject the resignation in a letter which read: “We as the representatives of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majlis), while thanking the wholehearted efforts of Dr. Zarif and insistence on his services as the head of the country’s diplomacy, emphasize the need for more unity and coordination in areas of diplomacy and international relations and want Your Excellency (the president) to seriously oppose the resignation of the foreign minister to end the worries of the representatives.”
Masoud Pereshkian, the first deputy parliament speaker, called Zarif a capable diplomat that the country should not deprive itself of. Ali Motahir, the second deputy parliament speaker, agreed and said that it is unlikely that Rouhani would accept Zarif’s resignation because there is no such a highly competent person to replace him.
Zarif played an instrumental role in drafting the international nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, with the 5+1 group.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Washington’s policy towards Tehran will remain unchanged even if Zarif resigned.
BY: MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr) |
