Mr. Miltiadis Makrygiannis, PABSEC Deputy Secretary General, participated to the works of the 142nd IPU Assembly that took place online for the first time on 26-27 May 2021. The sessions of the event were attended by more than 1000 parliamentarians and experts from 135 countries.

Under the umbrella theme of Overcoming the pandemic today and building a better tomorrow: the role of parliaments, MPs identified what parliamentary strategies were necessary to save lives by speeding up the equitable distribution of vaccinations and to rebuild more sustainable and inclusive economies.

In the President’s summary of the debate on the main theme, which opened the 142nd IPU Assembly, encapsulating the deliberations of some 30 virtual meetings over the past few weeks, IPU Member Parliaments called for a stronger response to end the pandemic as well as actions to advance peace, sustainable development, gender equality, youth empowerment, democracy, and human rights.

Member Parliaments also adopted two resolutions to strengthen peace against threats of conflicts brought about by climate change, as well as on mainstreaming digitalization and the circular economy to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Both resolutions are designed to be blueprints for parliamentary action at the national level.

In a good example of democracy, the Assembly also saw dozens of new parliamentarians from all regions of the world elected to fill various vacancies in IPU statutory bodies. Ms. Lesia Vasylenko from Ukraine was elected to the position of the  President of the Forum of Women Parliamentarians.

IPU Member Parliaments also agreed to establish the IPU Cremer-Passy Prize, an annual award to an MP or group of MPs who make an outstanding contribution to the IPU’s mission as well as to a more united, fair, secure, sustainable, and equitable world. The prize is named after the visionary parliamentarians who originally founded the IPU in 1889: William Randal Cremer from Great Britain and Frédéric Passy from France.