Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian Parliament (DPR) will host the Fourth Plenary Session of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) in Bandung (West Java Province), on December 7-10, 2009.

Twenty-six member countries, four observer countries and three parliamentary organizations had confirmed that they would send their representatives to participate in the APA Plenary Session, Hidayat Nurwahid, chairman of the DPR`s Interparliamentary Cooperation Body (BKSAP) said here on Thursday.

The plenary session would be attended by around 174 participants including 12 from Indonesia, he said.

The meeting will discuss economic and social development with environmental approach.

The Plenary Session`s agenda would be in accordance with the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Summit (COP-15), Nurwahid said.

The DPR has held the APA presidency since last year and organized the APA`s Third Plenary Session in Jakarta in 2008.

APA currently has 39 parliament members, 18 parliament observers and three organization observers.

The APA was born out of Association of Asian Parliaments for Peace (AAPP) in November, 2006, in Tehran.

The establishment of the AAPP goes back to 1999 when a group of Asian parliamentarians decided to join forces toward promoting peace and human rights in Asia.

Each Member Parliament has a specific number of seats in the Assembly based on the size of their population. The number of total seats, and therefore, number of votes, is currently 206. Members of Assembly must be elected by members of the Member Parliaments. The APA Charter and Tehran Declaration lay out a framework of cooperation among Asian countries, and point out to a vision; that is Asian Integration.(*)