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Asia Pulse - The country with no pa



Reply-To: "TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Asia Pulse - The country with no parliament has been granted special observer status in the AIPO

Asean Lawmakers Welcome Cambodia As Aipo Member
MANILA, Sept 21 Asia Pulse - Speaker Manuel Villar, president of the ASEAN
Inter-Parliamentary Organization (AIPO) currently holding its 20th general
assembly at the Manila Hotel, led leaders of parliament from other Southeast
Asian nations in welcoming Cambodia as the group's newest member-country.
Prince Norodom Ranarridh, President of the Cambodia National Assembly,
formally accepted his country's new affiliation by stressing Cambodia's
recent gains in peacemaking and political stability after the bloody
infighting in 1997 and 1998.

"Cambodia has formally joined the international community after three
decades of isolation now that peace and stability has been achieved,"
Ranarridh said in his speech.

He reported that the coalition government has been "working well" under a
climate of national reconciliation between two rival parties and that the
Cambodian parliament has adopted "a new culture of openness" that has
included moderates and opposition members.

Speaker Villar, for his part, said Cambodia's entry will "further enrich our
discussion" and that AIPO continues to "grow with the times and with the
realities of the world." "This is one more step towards having all Southeast
Asian countries part of the AIPO family," the Philippine Speaker further
said.

At the same time, Myanmar has been granted special observer status in the
AIPO.