Through its programme of activities, the BGIPU seeks to engage Parliamentarians in key global issues and works to expand awareness and understanding of foreign relations and the contribution to be made by the UK Parliament to consolidate parliamentary democracy worldwide.
Here you can read the reports of our activities, including our Outward Delegations, IPU conferences and events and inward visits to Westminster.
You can search for specific reports by using keywords, themes, categories or date using the fields on the right.
With the summer of 2023 set to be the hottest on record, time is rapidly running out to keep global warming under the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees Celsius. Climate action has become the number one strategic priority for the IPU which is why the Organization launched a new climate campaign Parliaments for the Planet earlier this year. […]
Parliament buildings are often statements revealing a country’s vision, traditions and culture. Here are the five types of plenary halls and their political significance. As former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill commented: “We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us.” Architecture has a profound impact on our behaviour. The size and shape of a […]
A BGIPU delegation visited Serbia from the 9 to 14 July 2023. The delegation was led by Jackie Doyle-Price MP who was joined by Wayne David MP, Matthew Offord MP, Tan Dhesi MP and Lord Rennard. The group visited Belgrade and Novi Sad and the visit came shortly after a visit to Parliament by Serbian […]
Following recent elections, women lawmakers now account for 30.4% of the elected seats in the Sierra Leone Parliament, up from 14.5% in the previous election. The surge in women MPs is largely thanks to the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act, signed into law by President Julius Maada Bio a few months ago, which sets a 30% quota of […]
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 […]
The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) has prompted many experts to warn about its impacts on democracy. With that in mind, the IPU is preparing a series of five articles on the topic. In this second piece, the IPU asks Denis Naughten, Chair of the IPU’s Working Group on Science and Technology, what advice […]
BGIPU hosted a delegation from Belgium on 4 and 5 July. The delegation included Stephanie D’Hose, President of the Belgian Senate, Andries Gryffroy, President of the 12+ Group in the IPU and Vice-President of the Belgian Senate and Michel De Maegd, Member of the Belgian IPU Group and they were accompanied by Peter Vercammen, Official of the […]
The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) has prompted many experts to warn about its impacts on democracy. To explore this issue further, the IPU is preparing a series of five articles on the topic. In this first piece, IPU Secretary General, Martin Chungong, discusses the risks and opportunities for democracy and argues that we […]
On the eve of its 134-year anniversary and the International Day of Parliamentarism, the IPU and Uruguay have signed an agreement with the objective of opening a regional IPU office in Montevideo. The future office will be a pilot project designed to deepen the IPU’s engagement with parliaments in the Latin American and Caribbean region by encouraging […]
On 30 June 1889, visionary parliamentarians Frédéric Passy of France and William Randall Cremer of the United Kingdom brought together MPs from Belgium, Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, Liberia, the United Kingdom and the USA in the first inter-parliamentary meeting in Paris, France. The Inter-Parliamentary Conference, later to become the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) was born. What […]