Cape Town – The Western Cape Provincial Parliament (WCPP) has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Intention with the Bavarian State Parliament to improve knowledge and strengthen relations.
The memo seeks to avail opportunities for the two institutions to exchange experiences on parliamentary best practices and share knowledge on matters of capacity to share knowledge on matters of capacity building of Members of Parliament and staff, and co-operation between parliamentary standing committees and research methodologies for parliamentary purposes.
WCPP speaker, Masizole Mnqasela said: “When I took office in 2019 after my election as Speaker, I prioritised international alignment and partnerships with other parliaments as a key objective for this institution and the formalisation of this partnership today is certainly a highlight of my term of office thus far,” Mnqasela said.
He further added that since 1995 the Western Cape and the Free State of Bavaria have maintained close relations.
“Contacts between the Bavarian State Parliament and Western Cape have existed since 2013, when the Presidium visited the province for the first time,”
“A variety of regular visits and exchanges have taken place at a working level, covering the topics of social affairs and education, security, renewable energy, climate change and digitisation. In 2017, a delegation from the Western Cape Provincial Parliament visited the Bavarian State Parliament.”
The President of the Bavarian State Parliament, Ilse Aigner said: “At a time when totalitarian states are attempting to form a network of sympathisers on the African continent in particular an exchange with a community which shares democratic values is very important, not just at the national level, but especially at the regional parliamentary level. Our visit is an important symbol for international co-operation between democratic institutions.”
IOL