Of Current Interest
At its meeting on Tuesday 14 October, the ASGP elected Dr Hafnaoui AMRANI, Secretary General of the Council of the Nation of Algeria as its new President. Dr Amrani will take up his post from Thursday 16 October, after the close of the Geneva meeting.
At the ASGP session in Cape Town, Mr Brissi Lucas GUEHI, Secretary General of the National Assembly of Côte d’Ivoire, presented a communication on the African Network of Parliaments Staff 'Reseau Africain des Personnels des Parlements (RAPP)'. The main purposes of this network are to contribute to: parliament staff training; continuous improvement of their professional skills, and inter-parliamentary cooperation. 23 Parliaments and 16 countries, essentially African francophone states, are currently members. Further information on this Network is available at http://www.rappafrik.org.
A conference on 'Informing Democracy: Building Capacity to Meet Parliamentarians' Information and Knowledge Needs', organised jointly by the IFLA Section on Library and Research Services for Parliaments in cooperation with the IPU and ASGP, will be held in Geneva on Thursday 16 October 2008. Information about the conference is available on the 'Upcoming Meeting' page.
New Members
At the ASGP session in Geneva (13-16 October 2008), the following new members were accepted:
Mr Assadullah FALAH
Secretary General of the House of Elders of Afghanistan
(This Chamber is joining the ASGP for the first time)
Mr Alphonse K. NOMBRÉ
Acting Secretary General of the National Assembly of Burkina Faso
(replacing Mr Prosper Vokouma)
Mr Louis-Claude NYASSA
Secretary General of the National Assembly of Cameroon
(replacing Mr Samson Ename Ename)
Mr Socrates SOCRATOUS
Acting Secretary General of the House of Representatives of Cyprus
(replacing Mr Costakis Christoforou)
Mr Carsten U. LARSEN
Secretary General of the Danish Parliament
(replacing Mr Henrik Tvarnø)
Mr Claus DETHLEFSEN
Deputy Secretary General of the Danish Parliament
Mr David JANIASHVILI
Secretary General of the Parliament of Georgia
(replacing Mr Gocha Martinenko)
Mr Iakob IOSEBASHVILI
Deputy Secretary General of the Parliament of Georgia
(replacing Mr Teimuraz Murgulia)
Mr Peter Charles OMOLO
Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly of Kenya
(replacing Mr Patrick G. Gichohi, who became Clerk)
Mr PARK Kye Dong
Secretary General of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea
(replacing Mr Tae-Rang Kim)
Ms Lebohang RAMOHLANKA
Secretary General of the National Assembly of Lesotho
(replacing Mrs Rethabile Maluke, Acting Secretary General)
Mr Tserenkhuu SHARAVDORJ
Secretary General of the State Great Hural of Mongolia
(replacing Namsraijav Luvsanjav)
Mr Manohar Prasad BHATTARAI
Acting Secretary General of the Parliament of Nepal
(replacing Surya Kiran Gurung)
Mr Benedict EFETURI
Acting Clerk of the Senate of Nigeria
(replacing Mr El Hadj Umaru Sani)
Mr Oyeniyi S. AJIBOYE
Acting Clerk of the House of Representatives of Nigeria
Mr Alexey A. SIGUTKIN
Secretary General of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation
(replacing Mr Alexander N. Lotorev)
Mr Vladimir SVINAREV
Secretary General of the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation
(replacing Mr Petr Tkachenko)
Dr Mohammed A. AL GHAMDI
Secretary General of the Shura Council of Saudi Arabia
(replacing Dr Saleh Al Malik)
Mr Dhammika KITULGODA
Secretary General of the Parliament of Sri Lanka
(replacing Mrs Priyanee Wijesekera)
Mr Philippe SCHWAB
Secretary of the Council of States (Senate) and Deputy Secretary General of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland
(replacing Mr Christoph Lanz, who became Secretary General of the Federal Assembly)