Riyadh, March 21, 2022, SPA-- Speaker of the Shura Council, Sheikh Dr. Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Ibrahim Al Al-Sheikh, participated in the launch of the works of the 144th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly, the Governing Council of the IPU and its standing committees, which is being held in Bali, Indonesia, in the presence of Indonesian President Joko Widodo, IPU President Duarte Pacheco, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and Speaker of Indonesian House of Representatives Puan Maharani. The 144th IPU Assembly is held with the participation of heads of parliaments and delegations from 179 countries around the world, under the title "Getting to Zero: Mobilizing Parliament to Act on Climate Change". In his address at the event, the Indonesian President welcomed the heads of delegations participating in the assembly and said that he looked forward to the parliaments participating in these meetings to achieve the desired goals, stressing the need for investment opportunities through this constructive parliamentary assembly. He pointed out that this parliamentary gathering is an opportunity to reduce carbon emissions that harm the environment and the climate, highlighting the need to take appropriate roles to confront these difficult environmental challenges. For his part, the IPU President, in his speech, emphasized the impacts of the wars that the world is witnessing on the climate and environment, which is the main topic of the current conference, stressing that the legislative councils must fulfill their mission to achieve the interests of their societies. Meanwhile, the UN Secretary-General, in his speech, referred to the recovery that the world has been witnessing from the emerging Coronavirus (COVID-19), adding that the wars and conflicts the world is going through have effects on the environment, the economy, and food across the world. The Shura delegation also includes Secretary-General of the Council, Mohammed bin Dakhil Al-Mutairi, and other Shura members. --SPA 17:16 LOCAL TIME 14:16 GMT 0020 www.spa.gov.sa/w1710331