NEW IPU PRESIDENT TO BE ELECTED AT THE 113TH IPU ASSEMBLY
The 113th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) will take place from 17 to 19 October 2005 at the Geneva International Conference Centre (CICG). Over 500 elected representatives (30 per cent of whom are women) from 141 IPU Member Parliaments are expected to attend. The members of the IPU Governing Council will elect the new IPU President on Wednesday, 19 October, at 3 p.m.
The two candidates to succeed Chilean Senator Sergio Páez in the presidency are Belgian Deputy Geert Versnick and the current Speaker of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Pier Ferdinando Casini.
Among those expected at the Geneva Assembly are the Speakers of the parliaments of Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, El Salvador, Fiji, Gabon, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Maldives, Malta, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Rwanda, Sao Tomé and Principe, Slovakia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; Thailand, Togo, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. The President of the Swiss National Council, Mrs. Thérèse Meyer, will speak on behalf of the parliament of the host country to the 113th Assembly on Wednesday, 19 October at 5 p.m.
The Assembly will have three subject items on its agenda: the respective roles of parliament and the media in providing the public with objective information, especially on armed conflicts and the struggle against terrorism; migration and development; and the importance of civil society and its interplay with parliaments and other democratically elected assemblies for the maturing and development of democracy.
On Monday, 17 October at 5 p.m., the parliamentarians will also have the opportunity to consider an emergency item.
A panel discussion on nationality and statelessness will be held on Tuesday, 18 October, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., in the presence of the new United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr. António Guterres. Other speakers will include Mr. Alejandro Navarro, the First Vice-President of the Chilean National Congress, Ms. Marta Santo Pais, Director of the Innocenti Research Centre of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and Mr. Gerard-René de Groot, a professor at the University of Maastricht.
The IPU Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians will hold its 111th session (in private) at the House of Parliaments, the IPU's Headquarters. The Gender Partnership Group and the Coordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians will also hold meetings (also in private) at the IPU Headquarters.
Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the IPU, the oldest multilateral political organisation, currently brings together 141 affiliated parliaments and seven regional assemblies as associate members. The world organisation of parliaments has an Office in New York, which acts as its Permanent Observer at the United Nations.
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