BELGRADE, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Parliamentarians from across the world adopted here on Thursday the Belgrade Declaration pledging to strengthen international law at the closing day of the 141st Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
Running from Sunday to Thursday, the assembly gathered more than 1,800 delegates from some 140 countries around the world, along with representatives of international organizations.
The Belgrade Declaration was presented by Mladen Grujic, a member of the Executive Board of the IPU.
"We support strong multilateral institutions, led by the United Nations, that aim to find solutions to common challenges such as state disputes and responsibility for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. We are also committed to strengthening regional cooperation," Grujic said in his presentation, stressing that the international law needs to be implemented through national legislation.
Maja Gojkovic, the speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, pointed out at the closing of the assembly that it was one of the largest in the history of the IPU, with more than 2,000 participants as well as 300 recorded official bilateral meetings.
According to her, this means that it is possible "in spite of numerous challenges, to build a world of dialogue and compromise."
Gojkovic also emphasized that the Belgrade Declaration, as the most important document of the assembly, "will represent an important point of support in strengthening and consistent application of international law and regional cooperation."
