Iranian parliamentary delegation's participation in the 127th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting in Quebec, Canada, defused Ottawa's efforts to isolate Iran, head of the Iranian delegation said Tuesday.

Chairman of the Executive Council of Iran's Inter-Parliamentary Group Iraj Nadimi stressed the significance of the Iranian parliament's participation at the IPU meeting in Canada, and said, "The Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting, itself, was important to us not the venue of the meeting which was Canada the same way that the UN General Assembly is important to Iran and not its venue which is the US because we have nothing to do with the US."

"The presence of Iran in this meeting was valuable because the Canadian side wanted to block Iran's presence at the meeting - which has a 50-year long history - through isolating (Iran) and cutting its political relations (with Iran)," Nadimi stated.

Nadimi further noted that Canada couldn't prevent Iran from attending the meeting since Iran's is an IPU member states.

Nadimi was accompanied by 5 other Iranian lawmakers during the trip to Canada.

1400 parliament members from more than 120 world states were present in the event which started on October 21 to review world social, economic, political situation and human rights condition in the member states as well as the latest developments in the Middle East and North Africa.

The IPU, established in 1889, is the oldest multilateral political organization. It brings together 155 affiliated parliaments and eight regional assemblies as associate members.
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News ID 183204