IPU President Pacheco invited to Palace of Westminster by BGIPU Executive Committee
IPU President Pacheco with BGIPU's 2022/23 Executive Committee in the IPU Room, in the Palace of Westminster on 11 July 2023.
As he enter his final months in office, IPU President, Duarte Pacheco of Portugal, was invited to visit to Palace of Westminster to address the BGIPU Executive Committee on the key challenges and successes of his time in office. He noted a key highlight have been the steady and progressive rebuilding of the IPU’s scope and meetings in the wake of the global pandemic, culminating in the adoption of a new five year IPU Strategy 2022-26.
The President recognised the serious challenges facing the world such as Russia’s illegal and illegitimate war in Ukraine and gender apartheid in Afghanistan and Iran which threatened global harmony, undermined long-standing human rights norms and geopolitically divided our membership. Nonetheless, the key role for the IPU remained to ensure the world’s parliamentarians consulted and cooperated to ensure common approaches on shared global priorities like advancing the Global Goals, addressing global health crises and natural disasters and tackling the existential threat to all the world’s people from climate change.
Calling other members together in a vote of thanks for his achievements as IPU President, past BGIPU Chair, Harriett Baldwin MP, praised President Pacheco’s vision and leadership, particularly his efforts to pursue universal inter-parliamentary membership of all UN member states in the IPU, including both the US Congress and those small states of the Caribbean and Pacific Islands region who were still not members.
BGIPU members, led by Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, look forward to participating in the vote at the 147th IPU Assembly in Luanda, Angola in October 2023 which will select President Pacheco’s successor which is anticipated to be a senior and respected parliamentarians from the African region in line with the usual geopolitical rotation applying in the IPU. BGIPU is also very supportive of calls for the IPU to reflect its key policies such as the Kigali Declaration in its own appointment processes and will be mindful of calls the next IPU President be a women in its consideration of the merits of all the current candidates.
IPU President Pacheco with BGIPU's 2022/23 Executive Committee in the IPU Room, in the Palace of Westminster on 11 July 2023.
Past BGIPU Chair, Harriett Baldwin MP, accompanied by BGIPU Audit Committee Chair, Flick Drummond MP and current Chair, Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, pays tribute to the leadership of President Pacheco at the meeting on 11 July 2023.
Prior to appearing at the BGIPU Executive Committee meeting, President Pacheco paid a courtesy call on the Speaker of the House of Commons, Rt Hon Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP. on 11 July 2023
