The Shura Council State of Qatar

The Shura Council held Monday its regular weekly session under the chairmanship of HE Speaker of the Shura Council Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud.

At the outset of the meeting, the Shura Council expressed its strong condemnation of the terrorist attack which targeted worshipers in two mosques in Christchurch City in New Zealand last Friday, leaving 50 martyrs and scores of injured, in a dangerous escalation of the unjust campaigns targeting Islam and Muslims.

The Shura Council underlined that this heinous crime, which shook the conscience of mankind all over the world, is a new proof that terrorism has no religion, and that humanity as a whole is threatened by hatred, intolerance and racism, and that it is time for a strong and united international position to confront terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, whatever its causes and motives.

The Shura Council then discussed a draft law on fireworks. The draft law defines fireworks as a mixture of chemicals in certain proportions according to the tables annexed to the draft law, and are used for the purpose of producing light or acoustic effects or both together after combustion or explosion.

Under the provisions of the draft law, the import, export, trade, manufacture, possession, acquisition, storage, transfer or use of fireworks listed in the Schedules I and II annexed to this draft law are prohibited.

The draft law also prohibits the import, export, trade, manufacture, possession, acquisition, storage, transfer or use of fireworks listed in Schedule III and IV annexed to the draft law without a license from the competent authority.

Under the draft law, the import, export, trade, manufacture, possession, acquisition, storage, transfer or use of fireworks listed in Schedule V annexed to the draft law shall be in accordance with the regulations issued by the Minister of the Interior.

The draft law included the terms of granting or renewing the license and cases in which the license is revoked.

Following the discussion, the Shura Council referred the above mentioned draft law to the Interior and External Affairs Committee to study it and submit a report thereon to the Council.

At the end of the session, HE the Speaker of the Shura Council briefed the Council on his participations during the past few days in several regional and international parliamentary events and his meetings locally and abroad in preparation for the convention of the General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Doha next April.

The events and meetings included the Parliamentary Hearing held at United Nations headquarters in New York from February 21 to 22, and HE the Speaker of the Shura Council's meetings with HE the UN Secretary-General, and HE the President of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, as well as ambassadors and delegates from 16 Member States in the United Nations and non-members of the IPU, to invite them to participate in the next session of the General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. HE the Speaker of the Shura Council also met with a number of heads of parliaments participating in the Hearing session and with HE President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in New York, and HE the IPU Secretary-General in Doha.

HE the Speaker of the Shura Council also briefed the Council on his participation and the accompanying delegation at the 29th Conference of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union (APU), which was held in Amman from March 3 to 4 under the theme "Jerusalem is the Eternal Capital of Palestine", and his meetings on the sidelines of the conference with a number of heads of Arab parliaments.

HE the Speaker also briefed the Shura Council on his participation and the accompanying delegation in 14th session of the 14th Conference of Union of Councils of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Member States, which was held in Rabat, Morocco, from March 13 to 14, and his meetings on the sidelines of the conference with a number of heads of parliaments of Islamic countries.

HE Speaker of the Shura Council Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud briefed the Council on his meeting with Their Excellencies ambassadors and heads of the diplomatic missions accredited to State, during which he expressed the hope to welcome Their Excellencies the heads of parliaments and their delegations in Doha and to work with them to achieve the objectives of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.