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.
In conjunction with the FCO Leadership Week, BGIPU and the FCO held a joint briefing on the situation in North Africa and the Middle East on the 6th July. Chaired by FCO Minister Tobias Ellwood, who highlighted the UK’s strong involvement in region, Members had the opportunity to hear from a number of key Ambassadors to the region about the situation in their respective countries.
On 1 July, BGIPU hosted young MPs to discuss IPU initiatives to advance political engagement of youth and improve the representativeness of parliaments. Gavin Shuker MP and Chloe Smith MP, who represented the UK Parliament in consecutive IPU Global Conferences of Young Parliamentarians, reported back to parliamentary colleagues on the IPU’s work and international efforts to enhance networks and support for young parliamentarians worldwide. MPs agreed the UK Parliament should play an active role in support of the IPU’s work.
A Special General Meeting (SGM) on 30 June elected Nigel Evans MP as the new BGIPU Chair in the wake of the recent 2015 General Election in the UK. The SGM also elected new members to fill a number of other Executive Committee vacancies along with the nomination of Ian Liddell-Grainger MP to fill the UK vacancy on the IPU’s Executive Committee.
On 17 June 2015 BGIPU hosted a roundtable on Eastern European Security that brought together Members from both Houses, Ambassadors and Embassy representatives from relevant countries and academic experts. Chaired by Steve Pound MP, the event gave Members who had recently participated in BGIPU visits to the region (Armenia, Georgia, Poland and Ukraine) the opportunity to report back and highlight some of the outcomes and hear from Ambassadors about the current situation and priorities in their country.
From 8 to 12 June 2015 BGIPU staff member Anja Richter participated in a seminar at the IPU headquarters in the House of Parliaments in Geneva, together with Secretaries and Clerks from other parliaments’ IPU Groups, to learn more about the functioning of the IPU and its procedures, and to exchange ideas and knowledge with counterparts.
A major international conference of the world’s young MPs in Tokyo in late May has called for policies to end the alienation and radicalization of young people, including new education policies and employment quotas. About 190 young MPs attended the IPU Global Conference of Young MPs making a series of recommendations on addressing some of the biggest challenges facing the world’s 3.5 billion youth populations including unemployment, discrimination and conflict. Gavin Shuker MP represented the UK Parliament at the event.
Following his appointment as UK Minister of State for Health, the Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, has stood down from the position of BGIPU Chair. At a State Opening reception on 27 May, the outgoing Chair expressed thanks for the support of diplomatic missions and UK representatives abroad, noted his gratitude to BGIPU members and recognised the work of the BGIPU Secretariat in supporting his role as Chair since he was elected in December 2013. The BGIPU Chair will be filled on an ad interim basis by Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger MP.
The BGIPU Secretariat had an information stand in the Portcullis House Atrium on 20 May to outlline its work in promoting the UK Parliament’s role in inter-parliamentary affairs, particularly through the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). This outreach activity provided an opportunity to promote the important role parliamentarians can play in international relations and the contribution made by IPU in promoting parliamentary perspectives on key global issues, including at major international meetings.
More than 700 MPs from 127 countries, including almost 50 Speakers, are now registered to attend the 132nd IPU Assembly in Hanoi, Viet Nam. The Assembly will look at concrete ways parliaments can implement the new sustainable development goals (SDGs) when they are adopted later this year. The Assembly, which takes place on 28 March to 1st April, aims to adopt a declaration on the role of Parliaments in supporting the achievement of the post-2015 SDGs at its conclusion.
Members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) have committed to taking the necessary action to carry forward proposed new sustainable development goals (SDGs) due to be adopted later this year. The success of the SDGs would transform the world and the lives of its people. Parliaments from across the world reaffirmed their vision of sustainable development based on human rights, poverty eradication, peace and security in the Hanoi Declaration, adopted at the conclusion of the five-day 132nd IPU Assembly in the Vietnamese capital.
