Roger Godsiff MP led a delegation of UK parliamentarians including, Graham Brady MP and David Amess on behalf of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Thailand which visited Bangkok at the invitation of the Thai Government from 10-15 November 2014. This was the APPG’s first trip to Thailand since its inception and took place against the backdrop of the military coup in Thailand in May 2014 and the political and economic uncertainty resulting from it.
Following an invitation from the Kyrgyzstan Speaker, John Mann MP, Chairman of the APPG for Kyrgyzstan accompanied by Andrew Rosindell MP visited Kyrgyzstan from 20-27 September 2014. The key objectives of the visit was to encourage democracy building and advance UK-Kyrgyzstan relations meeting counterpart parliamentarians and government officials. The visit was particularly timely in the run up to Kygyzstan’s parliamentary elections in October 2015.
The visit of a UK delegation to Nepal from 14-19 September provided an important opportunity to resume inter-parliamentary visits between Britain and Nepal with the establishment of its Constituent Assembly after successful democratic elections in November 2013. It was also timely as the 200th anniversary of bilateral relations approches in 2016 and provided insights into the main constitutional issues facing the country. The UK delegation also saw the major contributions to Nepal’s development being made by DFID and the Gurkha Welfare Scheme.
More than 360 MPs and parliamentary staff from 90 national parliaments, including the UK led by the Speaker of the House of Commons, attended the 2014 World e-parliament Conference in Seoul from 8-10 May exploring how to make information and communications technology (ICT) work better for democracy. The Conference, jointly organised by IPU and National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, built on progress made by parliaments in the use of ICT in recent years and looked at how to overcome current hurdles in parliamentary use of new technologies.
The Rt Hon George Howarth MP, Chair of All Party Parliamentary Group for Vietnam, led a delegation of British Parliamentarians to Vietnam in May from the 25th to 31st May 2013 to help further strengthen the relationship between the UK and Vietnam.
The BGIPU in conjunction with ActionAid’s Parliamentary Network on Women’s Rights in Afghanistan, held a panel discussion on Tuesday 3 July discuss practical steps towards addressing key challenges on Women, Peace and Security. The Lord Speaker, Baroness D’Souza CMG, opened the discussions with John Spellar MP, Margot James MP and Lucia Fry, ActionAid Head of Policy formed the Panel, which was chaired by Anushka Asthana of The Times.
The Delegation to Indonesia provided the opportunity to encourage broader understanding of UK interests among Indonesian counterparts, including enhancing prospects for trade, investment and international cooperation; for UK Parliamentarians to better appreciate Indonesia’s achievements as a robust parliamentary democracy.
Mr Zayar Thaw MP, National League for Democracy (NLD) member of the Burmese Parliament and Mr Nay Chi Win, a Communications Adviser with the NLD, were welcomed to the Parliament on 25 June 2012 by the British Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (BGIPU).
The purpose of the visit was to broaden and strengthen relations between Parliament and the National People’s Congress, and provide an opportunity for the All Party Parliamentary China Group to demonstrate the work it undertakes to support and develop the UK-China bilateral relationship, as well as deepening understanding of the UK Parliament.
Almost every week, parliamentary delegations arrive at Westminster – many are courtesy of the Inter-Parliamentary Union: nothing unusual about that. What was unusual about the delegation which arrived at the end of March was that they were from North Korea, and, indeed, that they are members of the Inter Parliamentary Union.
