Midrand, South Africa, 11 November 2025. Meeting with the Liaison between the IAO and the PAP with the President of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP)

His Eminence the Archbishop of Zambia and Mozambique Ioannis and the President of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), member of the Parliament of Zimbabwe, Chief Fortune Zephania Charumbira.

On Tuesday, 11 November 2025, His Eminence the Archbishop of Zambia and Mozambique Ioannis, in his capacity as the liaison between the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO) and the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), held a meeting with the PAP President, member of the Parliament of Zimbabwe, Chief Fortune Zephania Charumbira.

The meeting was held following an invitation to His Eminence to participate as a special guest in the works of the regular session of the 6th Legislature of the PAP, taking place in the Midrand area of Johannesburg, South Africa, from 3 to 14 November 2025, on the theme “Justice for Africa and People of African Descent through Reparations”. The PAP is the legislative body of the African Union, in which the national parliaments of the African Continent are represented.

During his visit, the liaison of the two interparliamentary organizations emphasized the need to reactivate their cooperation, based on the bilateral Cooperation Agreement, signed in May 2010, which provided for the undertaking of joint initiatives to promote mutual goals. He stated: “In the past, the IAO had been invited by your predecessors to attend the PAP plenary sessions as an observer. In addition, a Coordinating Cooperation Committee, consisting of members of the IAO and the PAP, was working to clarify joint action. Unfortunately, for some years the cooperation between the two interparliamentary institutions was inactive, due to the turbulent times that the PAP faced after the institutional crisis of 2021-2023. The presence of the IAO leadership in Zambia would be an excellent opportunity to reactivate the IAO-PAP cooperation and define a mutually acceptable agenda of initiatives.”

Furthermore, His Eminence informed the PAP President on the organization of a One-Day Conference on “Institutional Collaboration between Parliamentary and Religious Institutions and their Contribution to Addressing the Challenges of the Modern World”, to be organized in Lusaka, in May 2026, by the Holy Orthodox Archdiocese of Zambia and Mozambique, in collaboration with the National Assembly of the Republic of Zambia and the IAO. His Eminence invited the PAP President to travel to Lusaka to inaugurate the opening of the Conference and to have a creative and fruitful working meeting with the IAO leadership, namely the IAO Secretary General, Member of the Hellenic Parliament, Dr. Maximos Charakopoulos, and the President of the IAO General Assembly, Member of the Romanian Parliament, Mr. Ioan Vulpescu.

In fact, at the end of their meeting, the Liaison and the PAP President gave a press conference to major South African journalistic networks and exchanged commemorative gifts.