As Pakistan welcomes parliamentary leaders, diplomats and civil society voices for the curtain-raiser of the Inter-Parliamentary Speakers' Conference (ISC), hosted by the Senate of Pakistan in Islamabad, we set in motion a journey that is both historic and urgent. The first full session of the ISC, taking place on 11-12 November under the theme 'Peace, Security and Development', offers a rare and timely opportunity to reaffirm the power of parliamentary diplomacy, where dialogue between people's representatives, not just executive negotiations, may chart a new path for our shared global future.

Bringing to life a forum where the Speakers of many Parliaments can convene to raise crucial global issues of public importance in a dialogue that is both transparent and accountable is pivotal to democratic institutions. For doing this, I commend the founding vision of the ISC which, under the leadership of Chairman Senate Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, is making new history as it reinvigorates the power and efficacy of parliaments. In an age when the challenges we face — climate shocks, resource conflicts, forced displacement and geopolitical tensions — spill across borders, the ISC's parliament-led model is not a symbolic gesture, but........

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