ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is hosting a two-day Inter-Parliamentary Speakers’ Conference (ISC) in the capital city of Islamabad today, Tuesday, with representatives from over 40 nations including Saudi Arabia and Palestine attending. 

The ISC was constituted in Seoul in April 2025 under its founding chairman Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, who also serves as Pakistan’s current Senate chairman. The ISC features more than 45 speakers of parliaments across the world as its members, according to its website. This will be its first assembly since it was formed earlier this year. 

The two-day conference, which is being held in Islamabad from Nov. 11-12, brings together speakers, deputy speakers and parliamentary representatives from over 40 countries in an effort to expand Pakistan’s role in global parliamentary diplomacy, according to event organizers. It comes at a moment of heightened regional tensions, particularly surrounding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and shifting alignments in the Middle East and South Asia.

“Ladies and gentlemen, parliaments as the custodians of the people’s will and the democratically elected representatives of their aspirations, have a unique and indispensable role to play in this endeavor,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in his address. 

“We are guardians of the most precious hope and sacred trust that our people have reposed in us.”

State broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported that delegations from Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Palestine, Algeria, Barbados, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kenya, Tajikistan Morocco, Maldives, Serbia, Philippines and Rwanda have already arrived in Islamabad for the conference. 

It said the ISC reflected Pakistan’s growing role in advancing global parliamentary diplomacy.

The conference is designed as a platform for parliamentary leaders to exchange views on peace, security, development and legislative cooperation, including how elected bodies can address shared global challenges. Organizers say discussions are expected to cover economic resilience, digital governance, conflict mediation, humanitarian relief cooperation, climate adaptation and parliamentary transparency.

Pakistan has stepped up parliamentary diplomacy in recent years, seeking to expand political ties beyond the executive branch and build coalitions on issues such as Gaza, Kashmir, climate vulnerability and developing-country debt reform.