Mladen Grujic, member of Serbian Parliament
Hailing the successful hosting of the 140th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) by Qatar, Mladen Grujic, Member of Parliament of Serbia – which will host the 141st IPU Assembly – says Doha has set new standards of hospitality.
“It is very hard to beat the hospitality and organisation Doha exhibited in hosting the IPU Assembly. It demands serious homework from us to organise such kind of the IPU Assembly in Belgrade in October this year,” Grujic said while talking to The Peninsula on the sidelines of the 140th IPU Assembly and related meetings.
Expressing his satisfaction over the theme of the 140th Assembly of the IPU, the Serbian parliamentarian said that the Assembly talked about education, which he said was ‘an extremely important subject’.
“Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani rightly said in his speech that education is important for people to learn to communicate,” he said, adding that all problems could be resolved through dialogue and communication.
Mladen Grujic highly praised the Qatar Foundation saying that it was among the most impressive things he had seen in Qatar.
“Apart from university buildings and other structures at the Education City, Qatar Foundation’s software is very impressive,” he added.
He said that there was a difference between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. “In simple words, the UN is a platform where diplomats manage problems while the parliamentarians, on the other hand, can make problems or can solve them through legislation.”
The Serbian parliamentarian said that the IPU was a platform to meet people, talk to them and understand issues. “It becomes easier to overcome problems when you know people and know each other.”
Regarding the theme of the 141st Assembly of the IPU, he said that it had not been decided yet.
On Qatar-Serbia relations, he said that the bilateral ties could be enhanced through more people to people contacts. He said that he was happy to learn that daily flight of Qatar Airways from Doha to Belgrade was always full to its seating capacity.
“It is the first step towards enhancing cooperation. We are both small countries and we have to make our voice heard.” In Serbian parliamentarian’s opinion, Qatar and Serbia can enhance cooperation in sports on priority basis.
“We can also strengthen our bilateral ties in business sector too. Serbian companies are working in Qatar for the last thirty years,” he said, adding that in tourism sector Serbia and Qatar could boost their ties as both the countries had a lot of attractions to pull tourists.
Regarding parliamentary cooperation between the two countries, Grujic said that Serbian Parliament had a Qatar Friendship Group which visited Qatar a year ago.
“Now we hope to receive Qatar’s Shura Council delegation in Serbia in the near future,” he added.
