ISTANBUL: Monitoring Desk – The 25th Annual meeting of the Board of Directors (BoD) of the Asian Ombudsman Association (AOA) held in Istanbul (Republic of Turkiye) has called for Ombudsman Institutions constitute a global fraternity which can play an effective role in improving the quality of life for the common man through better governance.
The meeting was attended by heads of the Ombudsman institution in Azerbaijan, China, Hong Kong, Iran, Japan, Korea, Pakistan, Tatarstan and Turkiye. It also considered measures for instituting the AOA Calendar of Activities and upgrading facilities at the AOA Resource Centre established in Islamabad.
Asian Ombudsman Association (AOA) is a 47-member strong professional body of the Ombudsmen in the Asian region representing more than two-thirds of the world population. Its Board of Directors meets annually in one of the member states.
Pakistan’s Wafaqi Mohtasib, Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi presided the meeting as he is the President of AOA. He said that the objectives and purposes of the establishment of the Ombudsman Institution has a direct bearing on the realization of the overall goals, principally the protection and promotion of fundamental rights and good governance in all spheres of life.
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Qureshi emphasized the need for greater sharing of experiences and best practices to the mutual advantage of all stakeholders. “The commonly shared objectives are worth striving for and we should make a conscious effort for their realization”, he observed.
He expressed the confidence that such exchanges amongst the Ombuds Institutions would lead to further refining and streamlining the systems and procedures for addressing mal-administration, bureaucratic bottlenecks and systemic issues.
He thanked the Board of Directors (BoD) for expressing confidence and trust in Pakistan’s contribution in promoting the cause of Ombudsmanship to realize the ultimate objectives of good governance and the rule of law besides the inviolability of human rights.
The board, in its deliberations, took stock of the ongoing activities and decided to further step up cooperation in core areas, expressing satisfaction over the mutuality of perception evolved in the meeting. It said that improvement in the quality of life of the common man would ultimately help realize the objectives for which the body was created.
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