Activities: IPU Activities & Conferences

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.

The IPU provides technical support to parliaments, including on information and communication technology (ICT) projects. Over the last few months, the IPU has worked with the Parliaments of Sri Lanka, Zambia and Vanuatu to set up digital repositories for their respective parliamentary libraries. The IPU hopes to replicate this experience-sharing in future projects. The cooperation between parliaments is not only building partnerships but changing the way effective parliamentary support is conceived.

A record number of MPs from 36 parliaments participated in the 2017 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on sustainable development, from 10 to 19 July, in New York. The HLPF is the platform where governments and other stakeholders, including parliaments can monitor progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This year, 44 countries presented national progress reports.

On 17 July 2017, on behalf of the BGIPU, Lord McConnell attended the IPU Parliamentary event at the UN High Level Political Forum on the SDGs. This coincided with a visit by members of the APPG on the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development. In addition to the obvious scrutiny role of MPs to hold governments to account for delivery, the Global Goals provide real momentum for parliamentarians everywhere to insist upon accountability and pressurise governments for specific legislation and budgetary commitments.