Fourth World Conference   of Speakers of Parliament   Convened by the Inter-Parliamentary Union in cooperation with the United Nations       United Nations Headquarters, New York, 31 August to 2 September 2015

	IMPORTANT NEW INFORMATION The following recently added documents require primary attention: Declaration (2 September) List of participants (8 September) Live webcast The Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament will be held at United Nations Headquarters in New York from Monday 31 August to Wednesday, 2 September 2015. This summit of Speakers of Parliament from across the world is a unique forum for dialogue and cooperation between parliaments at the highest level. The overall theme of the Conference will focus on peace, democracy, and development seen through the parliamentary lens. The Conference is part of the series of high-level meetings leading up to the UN Summit in late September 2015, at which the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be launched. It will be preceded by the Tenth Meeting of Women Spekers of Parliament, to be held on 29 and 30 August. The Conference is convened by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). All arrangements relating to the holding of the event are being made under the guidance of a Preparatory Committee composed of some 30 Speakers of Parliament. Practical aspects of the Conference are outlined in the information note that accompanied invitation letters sent in early March to each Speaker individually. Two additional information notes were issued on 21 August and 20 July respectively. Invitations have been extended to the Speakers of all IPU member parliaments and of non-member parliaments (in the case of bicameral parliaments, speakers of both Chambers have been invited). Observers include Presidents of international parliamentary assemblies that are either Associate Members of the IPU or enjoy observer status at IPU meetings, as well as Heads of Programmes and Agencies of the United Nations system and the WTO. The size of the delegation from each Parliament and Associate Member should in principle not exceed six persons (ten persons in the case of bicameral parliaments). Observer delegations should be composed of no more than two persons. All invited participants are encouraged to use the IPU online registration system, which is open from 1 May to 21 August 2015. Presiding Officers of Parliament, Presidents of international parliamentary assemblies that are Associate Members of and permanent observers to the IPU, as well as special guests, will be invited to address the meeting. Each Parliament is requested to indicate in writing to the IPU Secretariat, by 15 July 2015, at which sitting the Presiding Officer would like to take the floor. The IPU Secretariat has established the order of the speakers in the General Debate by taking into account, as far as possible and on a "first-come, first-served" basis, the preferences that have been indicated. A complete list of speakers in the general debate is now availble on this website. Delegations are invited to submit the text of their official statement to the IPU Secretariat for posting on the event webpage (texts in English, French and Spanish should be sent to speakers15@ipu.org in PDF format). At the end of the Conference, participants will be invited to adopt an Outcome Document, which will have been drafted by a Preparatory Committee and submitted to all Parliaments in advance of the Conference for comments. Amendments to the draft Outcome Document will be receivable until the deadline of 15 August 2015. The Outcome Document will be presented officially to the UN Summit later in September. Texts of speeches delivered in the General Debate

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DRAFT AGENDA

Item 1		Adoption of the agenda and Rules of the Conference	Click to enlarge
Item 2		Presentation of Conference Reports:
	(a)	Implementation of major recommendations of previous Speakers’ Conferences and the growing parliamentary dimension to international cooperation Rapporteur: Ms. R. Kadaga, Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda
	(b)	Parliamentary involvement in the shaping and implementation of the new Sustainable Development Goals Rapporteur: Mr. S. Chowdhury, President of the IPU
	(c)	Challenges facing parliaments today Rapporteur: Mr. D. Carter, Speaker of the Parliament of New Zealand
	(d)	Mainstreaming gender equality into the work of parliaments Report on strategies for parliaments and recommendations of the Tenth Meeting of Women Speakers of Parliament Co-Rapporteurs: - Ms. S.-B. Hanoomanjee, Speaker of the National Assembly, Mauritius - Mr. N. Lammert, Speaker of the Bundestag, Germany
Item 3		General Debate: Placing democracy at the service of peace and sustainable development: Building the world the people want.
Item 4		Presentation of reports from the panel discussions
	(a)	Parliamentary oversight: Challenges and opportunities (overall theme of the 2016 Global Parliamentary Report)
	(b)	Translating the SDGs into action
Item 5		Presentation and adoption of the Final Declaration

DOCUMENTS AND LINKS

Updated on 23 December 2015
	Declaration CONF-2015/5-R (2 September 2015)		[Arabic] [Chinese] [English] [French] [Russian] [Spanish]
	Report of the general debate		[English] [French]
	Report of the panel on "Parliamentary oversight: Challenges and opportunities" CONF-2015/4(a)-R (2 September 2015)		[English] [French]
	Report of the panel on "Translating the SDGs into action" CONF-2015/CONF-2015/4(b)-R (2 September 2015)		[English] [French]
	Revised draft programme SP-CONF/2015/Prog.rev.1 (29 August 2015)		[English] [French] [Spanish]
	Draft agenda CONF-2015/A.1 (16 June 2015)		[Arabic] [Chinese] [English] [French] [Russian] [Spanish]
	Conference report: "Implementation of major recommendations of previous Speakers’ Conferences – the parliamentary dimension to international cooperation" CONF-2015/2(a)-R.1 (16 June 2015)		[English] [French]
	Conference report: "Parliamentary involvement in the shaping and implementation of the new Sustainable Development Goals" CONF-2015/2(b)-R.1 (16 June 2015)		[English] [French]
	Conference report: "Challenges facing parliaments today" CONF-2015/2(c)-R.1 (16 June 2015)		[English] [French]
	Conference report: "Mainstreaming gender equality into the work of parliaments" CONF-2015/2(d)-R.1 (16 June 2015)		[English] [French]
	Concept note: Panel discussion on the theme "Parliamentary oversight: Challenges and opportunities" CONF-2015/4(a)-Inf.1-Prog.rev (29 August 2015)		[English] [French]
	Concept note: Panel discussion on the theme "Translating the SDGs into action" CONF-2015/4(b)-Inf.1-Prog.rev (29 August 2015)		[English] [French]
	Draft Rules of the Conference		[Arabic] [Chinese] [English] [French] [Russian] [Spanish]
	Revised provisional list of speakers in the General Debate (version 30 August 2015)		[Bilingual]
	List of participants (version 8 September 2015)		[Bilingual]
	Illustrated publication		[English] [French]
SPEECHES AND PRESENTATIONS
	Inaugural address by the IPU President, Mr. Saber Chowdhury		[English] [French]
	Statement by the Secretary General of the United Nation, Mr. Ban Ki-moon		[English] [French]
	Statement by the President of the General Assembly of the United Nation, Mr. Sam K. Kutesa		[English] [French]
	Keynote address by Mr. Forest Whitaker		[English] [French]
	Texts of speeches prononced in the General Debate		[Multilingual]
	Webcast live		[Multilingual]
PRACTICAL ASPECTS
	Final information note SP-CONF/2015/1-Inf.5 (21 August 2015)		[English] [French]
	Important information note for parliamentary press and non-UN media accredited to the Speakers’ Conference SP-CONF/2015/1-Inf.4 (21 August 2015)		[English] [French]
	Note on UN Passes SP-CONF/2015/1-Inf.3 (18 August 2015)		[English] [French]
	Additional information note SP-CONF/2015/1-Inf.2 (20 July 2015)		[English] [French] [Spanish]
	Information note		[English] [French] [Spanish]
	Online registration		[English] [French]
	Explanatory note on online registration		[English] [French] [Spanish]
	Speaking preferences form		[English] [French] [Spanish]
			[English] [French] [Spanish]
	10th Meeting of Women Speakers of Parliament		[English] [French]
PREVIOUS SESSIONS OF THE CONFERENCE
	Third World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments (Geneva, 19 - 21 July 2010)		[English] [French]
	Second World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments (New York, 7 - 9 September 2005)		[English] [French]
	First Conference of Presiding Officers of National Parliaments (New York, 30 August - 1 September 2000)		[English] [French]
Note: Documents in PDF format require Adobe Acrobat Reader

Updated on 29 August 2015

DRAFT PROGRAMME

MONDAY, 31 AUGUST 2015
10:00 - 10:45	Opening ceremony in the presence of:	General Assembly Hall (level 2)
	- Mr. Saber Chowdhury, IPU President - Mr. Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General - Mr. Sam K. Kutesa, President of UN General Assembly
	Keynote address by Mr. Forest Whitaker, artist, humanist and UNESCO Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation
11:00 - 13:00	Plenary sitting I Presentation of reports:	General Assembly Hall (level 2)
	Implementation of major recommendations of previous Speakers' Conferences and the growing parliamentary dimension to international cooperation Rapporteur: Ms. Rebecca Kadaga, Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda
	Mainstreaming gender equality into the work of parliaments Co-Rapporteurs: - Ms. Santi Bai Hanoomanjee, Speaker of the National Assembly, Mauritius - Mr. Norbert Lammert, Speaker of the Bundestag, Germany
	General debate: Placing democracy at the service of peace and sustainable development: Building the world the people want
14:30	Group Photo (Speakers of Parliament only)	General Assembly Hall (level 2)
15:00 - 18:00	Plenary sitting II Presentation of reports:	General Assembly Hall (level 2)
	Parliamentary involvement in the shaping and implementation of the new Sustainable Development Goals Rapporteur: Mr. Saber Chowdhury, IPU President
	Challenges facing parliaments today Rapporteur: Mr. David Carter, Speaker of the Parliament of New Zealand
	Address by Ms. Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
	Continuation of general debate
18:30	Cocktail reception hosted by the IPU President	UN Visitors' Lobby (level 1)
TUESDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 2015
10:00 - 13:00	Plenary sitting III	Trusteeship Chamber (level 2)
	Address by Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women
	Continuation of general debate
	Panel discussion: Parliamentary oversight: Challenges and opportunities	Conference Room 4 (level B)
15:00 - 18:00	Plenary sitting IV	Trusteeship Chamber (level 2)
	Continuation of general debate
	Panel discussion: Translating the SDGs into action	Conference Room 4 (level B)
WEDNESDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER 2015
10:00 - 13:00 15:00 - 18:00	Plenary sittings V and VI	General Assembly Hall (level 2)
	Continuation and conclusion of general debate Presentation of reports from the panel discussions - Parliamentary oversight: Challenges and opportunities - Translating the SDGs into action Adoption of the Declaration Remarks by the IPU President, Mr. Saber Chowdhury, and the incoming President of the UN General Assembly, Mr. M. Lykketoft (former Speaker of the Parliament of Denmark) Closing of the Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament

PREPARATORY COMMITTEE

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