The Headquarters of the League of Arab States in Moscow hosted the discussion about the Forthcoming Second World Public Assembly
In mid-September 2026, the headquarters of the League of Arab States in Moscow hosted a welcoming meeting between Andrey Belyaninov, Secretary General of the World Peoples Assembly and delegates of the Arab Peace Group. The Russian delegation was invited by Walid Hamed Shiltagh, Ambassador of the League.
The key topic of negotiations was the Second World Public Assembly in Moscow (18–19 September 2026), as well as the strengthening of international partnership in the fields of education and peacebuilding.
The event was attended by:
Andrey Belyaninov – Secretary General of the World Peoples Assembly (Russia);
Ali Nasser Muhammad – President of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (1980–1986), Head of the Arab Peace Group;
Samir Habashneh – former Minister of Interior of Jordan, Secretary-General of the Arab Peace Group
Adnan Badran – Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Jordan, former Prime Minister of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Deputy Director-General of UNESCO in Paris (1990–1998);
Khamis Hussein Atiya – First Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of Jordan;
Maysoon Subhi Moh'd Alqawaba'a – Member of the House of Representatives of Jordan;
Suleiman Abdel Aziz Suleiman Al-Saud – Head of the Palestinian Committee, Member of the House of Representatives of Jordan;
Abdel Hadi Suleiman Thani Al-Braizat – Head of the Jordanian-Russian Friendship Committee;
Dina Avni Mohammad Al-Bashir – Member of the House of Representatives of Jordan;
Aryad Mustafa Abdelhalim Aburumman – Speaker of the House of Representatives of Jordan;
Mohd Salameh Abdullah Sabaileh – Member of the House of Representatives of Jordan;
Abdallah A. Oweidat – former Minister of Development, Culture, Youth and Sports of Jordan, Member of the Executive Council of the Arab Peace Group;
Tarak Ben Salem – Secretary General of Arab Maghreb Union (Tunisia);
Khaled Kandil – Senator (Egypt);
Najla Hamad – Executive Director of the Arab Peace Group (Jordan);
Alyona Dolgopolova – Official Secretary of the World Peoples Assembly, journalist, public figure, expert in international cultural cooperation (Russia);
Yulia Petrova – Deputy Secretary General of the World Peoples Assembly, Professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation;
Pavel Bezdenezhnykh – Head of the Office of the Secretary General of the Assembly;
Sergey Glagolev – Rector of V.G. Shukhov Belgorod State Technical University -
and others.
Addressing those gathered, Andrey Belyaninov said that it was a great honour for him and his colleagues to be present at such a high-level meeting. He noted with a touch of irony that when Ali Nasser was already a Minister of Defence of Yemen and being engaged in dialogue with such historical figures as Leonid Brezhnev and Yuri Andropov, the speaker himself was only in the eighth grade. Andrey Belyaninov also joked that he mentioned the Arab Peace Group so often at international meetings that people around him were already beginning to suspect that he had Arab roots.
- Of course, you are an Arab! - Ali Nasser said with a smile, supporting his colleague.
Andrey Belyaninov drew the attention to two important points. Firstly, he announced the appointment to the post of Deputy Secretary of the Assembly of Fidel Antonio Castro-Smirnov, Academician of the Cuban Academy of Sciences (the grandson of the legendary Cuban leader), who, when speaking about the extremely difficult situation in Cuba, compares the scale of the tragedy with the situation in Palestine. According to Andrey Belyaninov, such a state of affairs must not go unnoticed, as it is a problem affecting the entire international community:
- Children who are guilty of nothing are dying in both places. We cannot remain silent – such tragedies must not be repeated.
Secondly, Andrey Belyaninov addressed the subject of education, calling this sphere a priority, particularly for young people. He expressed his personal gratitude to Amr Ezzat Salama, Secretary General of the Association of Arab Universities, for their fruitful cooperation.
- Such a powerful educational potential in our hands already deserves to be brought to a fundamentally new level, - he stated.
The Secretary-General paid particular attention to the activities of UNESCO. Recognizing the organization as fundamentally important, he nevertheless noted that today, unfortunately, it is “frozen” by bureaucracy:
- While applications for inclusion on the lists of cultural heritage sites are being considered, the monuments themselves are being destroyed. It is enough to recall Syria’s Palmyra – it has been irretrievably lost. And there are many such tragic examples.
Andrey Belyaninov emphasized that the election of a representative of the Arab world as head of UNESCO creates an opportunity to resume productive dialogue. According to him, for the many-thousand-year history of humanity, a list of 1,200 recognized monuments is critically insufficient.
- We must devote all our efforts to launching a sensible, carefully considered, yet decisive reform of UNESCO, - the speaker concluded.
At the end of the meeting, the Secretary General of the World Peoples Assembly stated that he considers all those present members of the Assembly and that, with their active participation, the forthcoming event would be held at the highest level.
Additional information is available on the official website of the World Peoples Assembly and at media@world-assembly.org.