World Bulletin / News Desk

Pakistan took over the presidency of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) from Syria, during APA's 6th session in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

Pakistan will run APA's presidency for 2 years, while Turkey was elected as the deputy president of the assembly at the session held under the theme of "Asian Century".

Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, chairman of the Pakistan's Senate, underlined the importance of cooperation among the Asian countries in order to resolve problems of the member countries such as terrorism, poverty and energy.

Yuksel Ozden, deputy of Turkey's ruling AK Party, stressed the need of Asia's creating own economic models.

"We know economic models that the West created earlier damage human nature. We've come to a new stage now. APA could not have advanced so far because of Syria's presidency. Pakistan has taken over the presidency right now. We, as Turkey, will act as the deputy president of the assembly. We will do whatever should be done to APA to become like European Parliament," Ozden added.

The session will end on Tuesday after signing of a joint declaration.