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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The delegation of the Legislative Council completed its 11-day visit to Prague of the Czech Republic, Zagreb and Rijeka of the Republic of Croatia, and Budapest of the Republic of Hungary and returned to Hong Kong today.
The delegation visited the Hungarian National Assembly on September 22. Meetings were held with Mr Laszlo Mandur, Vice Speaker of the National Assembly; Mr Zoltan Balog, Chairman of the Committee on Human Rights, Minorities, Civil and Religion Affairs; Ms Judit Csiha, Chairwoman of the Constitutional, Judicial and Standing Orders Committee; and senior staff of the National Assembly. During these meetings, the delegation received briefings on the legislative process and operation of the National Assembly, the multi-party system and the support provided to political parties and individual Members. The delegation also had fruitful exchanges with Members of the National Assembly on human rights and minorities issues.
The Delegation Leader, Ms Emily Lau Wai-hing, said that the visit was very successful in enabling Members to obtain first-hand information on the political and constitutional development in the three emerging democracies (i.e. the Czech Republic, the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Hungary) as well as their electoral systems. The experience of these countries in managing changes during the democratization process was certainly valuable.
"The delegation is glad that the visit has strengthened the links between Hong Kong and the legislatures of the three countries. We gained a better understanding of how the legislatures operate, their political parties and the challenges faced by their Members. The delegation is particularly impressed that the various parties which the delegation has met during the visit find the democratization process in their countries successful and the people are generally satisfied with the democratization development," she added.
Ends/Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Issued at HKT 19:00
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