Mongolia is a unique country. It has a population the size of Wales and a land mass nearly three times that of France, and in terms of its history, geography, culture, natural resources and political position, there is no other country quite like Mongolia. This means that Mongolia faces distinctive challenges, which are in many ways peculiar to the country.
During our week-long visit to Madagascar in November, UK members found a common theme being the great warmth shown towards the British. Madagascar is celebrating 200 years since the friendship treaty with the UK and there is a clear wish from the President down to pursue membership of the Commonwealth. Indeed, the visit by the President to the UK earlier in the Autumn to open a new embassy further underlined the importance they placed on closer links with the UK which was also underscored by the way we were received during our timely visit.
From 30th October to 3rd November, BGIPU hosted a high-level delegation from the Turkish Grand National Assembly led by Mr Hayati Yazici from the AK Party, Chairman of the Turkey-UK Interparliamentary Friendship Group and a former Deputy Prime Minister. The programme included three days of meetings in Westminster and two days in Edinburgh. Topics discussed during the visit included the bilateral and future trade relationship in the context of Brexit, but also human rights concerns, the fight against terrorism and regional relations.
Following the British Group Inter-Parliamentary Union Delegation to Manila in 2016, the BGIPU hosted a reciprocal high level visit from the Philippines from 20 to 25 October 2017 led by Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III. The visit served to underscore the many common perspectives and mutually beneficial objectives of both parliaments, including strong mutual interest on both sides to expand bilateral relations, particularly regarding people to people contacts and trade and economic links in the context of the UK leaving the EU.
Parliamentarians from 155 countries have committed to pursuing cultural pluralism and peace through interfaith and inter-ethnic dialogue. In a declaration issued at the close of the 137th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly (#IPU137) in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, IPU Member Parliaments have called for transparency, accountability and respect for human rights and the rule of law to serve as the basis for building sustainable and peaceful diversity.
A UK delegation to Serbia from 1 to 6 October was led by John Whittingdale MP and included Baroness D’Souza, David Drew MP, Baroness Northover and Baroness Barker. The delegation met a wide range of members of the National Assembly experiencing considerable warmth towards the UK due to historic ties and people to people links. The major topic underlying almost all our discussions was the declared ambition of Serbia to join the European Union with a target date of 2025 recently announced by the EU.
The IPU and the European Parliament organized a session of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO (PCWTO) during the 2017 World Trade Organization (WTO) Public Forum on 26 September focussing on “Making trade fair: The contribution of parliaments”. Participants discussed what concrete actions parliaments could take to make global trade more sustainable, in line with the SDGs, reversing mistrust of global trade and making sure that trade can help respond to major challenges such as poverty and climate change.
A UK inter-parliamentary delegation visited Peru from 17 to 22 September 2017 with the key objectives of building a positive relationship with the country as a key Pacific Alliance state. The visit gave Members of the UK Parliament the opportunity to strengthen connections between our two parliaments and included very positive meetings with the Speaker of the Congress, the parliamentary friendship group and a number of congressional committees and senior Government representatives. The delegation also travelled outside the capital to Cusco.
During its recent visit to Peru the UK delegation looked at the impact of a range of social issues in Peru. This included measures and social models to ensure the inclusion of people with disabilities in Peru. The delegation also met with the Minister for Women’s Affairs to discuss womens rights and domestic abuse and heard about efforts to achieve justice for past abuse of indigenous peoples through forced sterilsation in the 1990s. There was also discussion of the Ombudsman network designed to tackle human rights issues in the country.
A UK Parliamentary delegation visited Iceland from 18 to 22 September 2017 to meet counterparts and explore issues of mutual concern, particularly regarding political developments, UK-Iceland bilateral relations, economic opportunities for the future and the implications of Brexit The UK delegation had fantastic access and contact at governmental and political levels, as well as other institutions, to hear first-hand how Iceland is progressing as a society despite what can only be seen as a topsy-turvy political landscape.
