Region: Asia-Pacific

APPG visits Kyrgyzstan

APPG delegation visit to Kyrgyzstan encourages democracy building

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.

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UK delegation to Nepal highlights 200 years of relations

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.

The Speaker of the House of Commons addresses the World e-Parliament Conference

Using technology to enhance democracy – World e-Parliament Conference

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.

BGIPU hosted a panel discussion on Afghan women in cooperation with Action Aid

BGIPU Lunchtime Discussion on Women’s Rights in Afghanistan

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 flag of the People's Republic of China

Visit to Westminster by a delegation from China, led by the Vice-Chair of the National People’s Congress

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.