Theme: Trade and Sustainable Development

Speaker Birla and President Pacheco with other Speakers of Parliament in front of the old Indian Parliament Building

Heads of Parliament of the world’s largest economies convene in New Delhi

The Parliament of India, in cooperation with the IPU, brought together parliamentary leaders from the world’s 20 major economies at the Ninth G20 Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit and Parliamentary Forum, the so-called ‘P20’, from 13-14 October in New Delhi, India. The Summit follows a meeting of the heads of state of the Group of 20 world economies […]

The National Assembly of Angola.

IPU Assembly to focus on good governance to address global crises

The 147th IPU Assembly will be held in Luanda, Angola, from 23 to 27 October 2023, hosted by the National Assembly of Angola. The IPU Assembly will provide a platform for parliamentarians, partner organizations and experts to share good practice and commit to the overall theme of Parliamentary action for peace, justice and strong institutions. The theme is […]

More than 200 MPs attended the Summit. © Parliament of Uruguay

IPU & Uruguay lead parliamentarians in exploring how best to look into the future

The Second World Summit of the Committees of the Future took place from 25-27 September 2023 in Montevideo, Uruguay, with the theme of Bringing the future into the present: The democracy of the future, artificial intelligence and parliaments. The Summit brought together more than 200 parliamentarians from some 70 countries to focus on strategies to integrate a future-oriented […]

Delegation with members of the Senate of Uzbekistan

UK delegation to Uzbekistan highlights possibilities for future collaboration

From 25 to 29 September, I had the privilege to lead BGIPU’s first ever bilateral delegation to Uzbekistan.   I was joined by BGIPU Vice Chair Alex Sobel, Catherine West, Anna McMorrin, BGIPU Executive Committee member Lord Cromwell and Lord Hussain, and assisting us from the Secretariat were Dominique Rees and Henry Collison. Despite arriving in […]

Christophe Lacroix, Belgium MP and co-rapporteur of the IPU Standing Committee on Peace and International Security

IPU hears on peace and security, parliaments must keep AI in check

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 third piece, Belgian MP and co-rapporteur of the IPU Standing Committee on Peace and International Security, Christophe Lacroix, talks […]

A floating boat school in Bangladesh. Abir Abdullah / Climate Visuals Countdown

Preparing democracy for what’s to come: Committees of the Future

The COVID-19 pandemic. The war in Ukraine. The triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. Recent events – some that could have been foreseen, others that took the world by surprise – have revealed the fragility of the world’s existing governance structures. The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence is also likely to revolutionize the […]

23 August 2023, Toulouse, France, ALAIN PITTON / NURPHOTO VIA AFP

IPU works to make democracy work better for the climate

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. […]

The Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, Parliament building in Bangladesh. © Bangladesh Parliament.

Buildings fit for a parliament: The politics of parliamentary architecture

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 […]