The past week marks the beginning of the work needed for parliaments next digital sitting at the end of May. Parliamentarians are focussing on the legislative foundations that will help with Asgardia’s economic growth and its mission of humanity living, and thriving, in space.

Parliament Chairman Lembit Öpik went over the short term calendar of events for Parliament. In the next three months, there will be an economic meeting planned for March 21/22, parliaments all day working meeting on April 4, and the next digital sitting tentatively set for the weekend of May 24.

Members of Parliament discussed the Currency Act, a priority piece of legislation to go with the upcoming key Acts to help with Asgardia’s economic growth. Parliament will be looking into forming a currency logistics team to ensure that all currency information is clear and available so that there will be a smooth launch of the SOLAR and Asgardia’s economy can continue to grow.

The Chairman has continued to work with the parliament support team on the coordination of parliament meeting live-streams. The goal is to have it ready by the digital sitting and then for future meetings of parliament. These will open transparency of the work being done on behalf of the Asgardia community and increase understanding of the future plans of Asgardia.

There was a short discussion about historical archives of parliamentary communications and meetings as well as a brief presentation of Asgardia’s social media and community happenings.

Parliamentary work has been focused on preparations for the upcoming digital sitting. Pending legislation continues to be refined and avenues for more are being identified.

Chairman Lembit Öpik has been meeting with the developers of Zoom, the platform in which the Asgardia Parliament uses to communicate during their meetings, to help develop translation and technological tools for Asgardia. Parliament plans on continuing to use this platform and hopes for a closer relationship with the business. Chairman Öpik spoke briefly about a technology company that has approached Asgardia about offering its products to Asgardians but details have yet to be worked out. As the conversation moves forward, more information will be made available.

AMP Fernando Jimenez Motte, with the support of fellow MPs and Ministry committees, has been hard at work preparing the Asgardia Industry Standards Act (AIS) that will follow up the key business acts that will be discussed at the digital meeting. This Act will help set standards for businesses to conduct business within the Asgardia platform. Research is continuing to find best practices and fair policy examples from around the world which may be incorporated.

During the meeting, the Chairman and MPs had a conversation about Asgardia’s currency, the SOLAR, and it’s status of development. They stressed how important that launching it was for Asgardia’s economy and that its value should be based on a stable commodity. Work by the Administration, Government, Parliament and support teams is ongoing to launch the currency as soon as possible.

The meeting then moved to a conversation about the diplomatic recognition of Asgardia and its status as a nation. AMP Ben Dell offered this quote from a consultant helping with Asgardia:

“Diplomatic recognition will come after industry, finance and community recognition.”

This week, Asgardia’s parliament moves closer to passing key legislation and setting precedence as the most organized parliamentary systems in the world, working at every level of parliament. It also brought back Head of Administration of the Head of Nation Lena De Winne to attending the weekly meeting which ensures a closer relationship between parliament and the administration of Asgardia.

Chairman Parliament Lembit Öpik reported the results from the all-day leadership meeting in Dubai on Aquarius 24 / January 24 that he attended with Asgardia’s Head of Nation, Dr. Igor Ashurbeyli, and Lena De Winne. At the meeting, the Head of Nation was presented with all current pieces of legislation as well as the agenda for the upcoming digital sitting of parliament that will be held Aries 3 - 5, 0004 / February 28 - March 1, 2020. After review and discussion, Dr. Ashurbeyli expressed his support and appreciation of the work being conducted by the members of parliament.

The Chairman conducted a brief review of the timetable of the upcoming parliamentary digital sitting. The parliamentary coordination team was also reported to be working on adding a Turkish language translation channel to the formal meetings of parliament being held on the Zoom platform. The plan is to eventually have all 12 languages of Asgardia available to provide greater accessibility to all parliamentarians during the meetings.

It was formally reported the resignations of two members of parliament, Helena Aramendia, and Sergei Sergieiev. AMPs expressed their disappointment at losing two dedicated and valuable members of parliament but wished them well in their future endeavors. The contributions they made to the building of our nation will forever be appreciated and be a valuable part of the foundations of Asgardia.

The MPs discussed the freedom of speech and the exchange of opinions in Asgardia. All participants of the discussion agreed that this is one of the core values of Asgardia that everyone has the right to exercise. They also addressed how to further improve routines of collaboration between the independent branches of power within Asgardia.

MP Salvos Mouzakitis talked about licensing Asgardia trademarked symbols and name and how it might work. He and MP Ben Dell are working on a proposal with Ben Dell that they are hoping to have completed the next digital sitting.