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International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace
San Marino Conference Introduces IAPP
Saturday, June 16, 2018
San Marino, San Marino—Twenty-one persons attended a conference whose purpose was to present the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP), a project of UPF.
The invitation was sent to all the nation’s parliamentarians. The participants of the June 16, 2018, event included eight parliamentarians, a former minister of health and a former minister of education.
The two speakers were a representative of San Marino to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), based in Vienna, Austria, and the former San Marino minister of health.
UPF and IAPP representatives came from Italy to support the initiative. One Italian senator, Roberto Rampi, coordinator of the Italian IAPP, was supposed to come but at the last moment was asked to go to Kazakhstan on a human rights issue. However, Senator Rampi sent a video message which was quite well appreciated.
The master of ceremonies was journalist Franco Cavalli, who attended the 10th anniversary of the Middle East Peace Initiative (MEPI) in Jerusalem in 2013 and was in Seoul, Korea, in February 2016 at the launch of IAPP. His introduction was very well formulated.
After Senator Rampi’s video message, Giorgio Gasperoni, the president of UPF in San Marino, gave an introduction to UPF’s work, starting with a video about the 2018 Peace Road, a UPF initiative.
Just a few days earlier, the historic meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had taken place. Therefore, Mr. Gasperoni explained UPF’s peacebuilding efforts in Korea and Japan and throughout the world to make a strong base for peace to come.
Carlo Zonato, the president of UPF-Italy, gave a speech that introduced the work of UPF and IAPP. Then Eleonora Bechis, a former Italian parliamentarian and the coordinator in Italy of IAPP, spoke of her experiences at all the international conferences she attended.
Gerardo Giovagnoli, a former parliamentarian of San Marino who is very active in politics and is part of IAPP of San Marino, gave his testimony.
The representative of San Marino to OSCE, Luca Santolini, gave a speech on the purpose of that organization and the role of San Marino in it.
Francesco Mussoni, a former minister of health, spoke of the contribution of San Marino in international institutions.
At the end there was a good contribution from the other participants. All of them expressed enthusiasm about cooperating with IAPP.
UPF-San Marino President Gasperoni concluded with a reminder of the third “Football for Peace” tournament which was scheduled to take place in San Marino at the end of August, involving eight Arab girls and eight Israeli girls. The project was to be sponsored by the Football Federation of San Marino, which is part of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), and a top leader of UEFA’s social projects was scheduled to attend the tournament as an observer.
Mr. Gasperoni told the parliamentarians that their involvement in good practices for peace can have a great effect, both for the project mentioned above and for Peace Road events around the world.
TV interview with Giorgio Gasperoni, president of UPF-San Marino, and Carlo Zonato, president of UPF-Italy, click here.
The video message of Italian Sen. Roberto Rampi, click here.