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.
On 20 October, BGIPU convened a virtual bilateral meeting between UK and Panamanian Parliamentarians. The discussion was moderated by BGIPU Executive Member, Mark Menzies MP, and was attended on the UK side by Baroness D’Souza, Baroness Hooper, Catherine West MP, Lord Dholakia and Lord Mountevans. The newly appointed Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Panama, Mr Tim […]
On 20 October, BGIPU convened a roundtable in collaboration with WFP on the climate-induced famine in Madagascar. On the panel were four very knowledgeable speakers: Mr David Ashley, Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Madagascar; Ms Elisabeth Faure, WFP UK Director; Ms Pasqualina Disirio, WFP Head of Country Delegation; and Mr Arduino Mangoni, WFP’s Head of Programmes […]
At the Fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, Ms. Xiye Bastida, an 18-year-old climate activist from Mexico, had a message for the parliamentarians present: “The climate crisis is generational injustice. And you have the power to develop smart, just and holistic legislation.” This was a call for all parliamentarians to act, and to act now, […]
The IPU is co-organizing a Pre-COP26 Parliamentary Meeting in Rome, Italy on 8-9 October 2021 with the Italian Parliament as part of a series of pre-COP26 events hosted by Italy, followed by the Parliamentary Meeting at COP26 in Glasgow, co-organized with the British Group of the IPU on 7 November 2021. The Pre-COP Parliamentary Meeting […]
Some 70 parliaments representing all the regions of the world attended the First Global Parliamentary Meeting on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Turning the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic into opportunities for parliaments to achieve the SDGs this week. The IPU and the House of Representatives of Indonesia organized the three-day virtual event from 28-30 […]
The first major international in-person event held by the IPU in 18 months, the Fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, took place in early September in Vienna, Austria. The event’s success in bringing 900 people safely together from all four corners of the world was a result of extensive planning and close coordination between the IPU, […]
On 20 September, UK Parliamentarians met virtually with members of the Hungarian Parliament. The meeting was hosted by Chair of the Hungarian All Party Parliamentary Group Craig Mackinlay MP, and Dr Richárd Hörcsik Chair of the Hungarian/British Friendship group. Dr Hörcsik welcomed and introduced the Hungarian members and noted they had been running slightly behind due […]
On 20 September 2021, BGIPU hosted a virtual bilateral meeting with Members of the National Assembly in Madagascar. The meeting was chaired by Tim Loughton MP, who had previously led a BGIPU delegation out to Madagascar in 2017. He was joined by Alex Sobel MP, Baroness Sheehan, Baroness Walmsley, Lord Thomas and Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Madagascar, David Ashley. […]
In honour of the International Day of Democracy, on September 15 the IPU held a virtual discussion on the theme ‘Is democracy really in crisis?’ It is a timely question, given a rising number of authoritarian and repressive regimes, attacks on parliaments and a backlash against traditional political parties and processes around the world. In […]
On Wednesday 15 September, to mark UN International Day of Democracy, BGIPU hosted its first in-person event after eighteen months of reduced parliamentary activity. BGIPU invited a panel of experts on democracy, including Franklin De Vrieze, Senior Governance Advisor at Westminster Foundation for Democracy, Sarah Birch, Professor of Political Science at King’s College London and […]
