The Council decided to support the proposal by the Gender Partnership Group for a more balanced representation of men and women at the IPU Conferences. Delegations composed exclusively of parliamentarians of the same sex will no longer be entitled to present candidates to the Executive Committee. The delegations will be reduced and suffer voting penalties. The measures will be ratified at the 108th Conference in Santiago de Chile.

On behalf of the 405 MPs representing 123 parliaments who were present at the session, Council President Heptulla strongly condemned the acts of violence which threaten the democratic and representative institutions in Côte d’Ivoire. “We reiterate that dialogue is the only means of resolving differences and the only way to achieve a stable and lasting peace, and we wish to express our solidarity with the authorities and people of Côte d’Ivoire. We cannot but share the sentiments voiced by the Group of Latin American and Caribbean countries, which have expressed their concern and condemnation of any attempt to disrupt the normal functioning of the democratic institutions".

Following the pattern it launched last year with the WTO Director General, the IPU organized a parliamentary hearing with an international authority on financing for development, former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, who is currently Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization and author of the eponymous report that went to the UN Conference on Financing for Development. After hearing Mr. Zedillo declare that "rich countries’ agricultural protectionism remains at a level which, frankly, is scandalous", the IPU Council adopted a resolution which recommends the enactment of legislation that would promote free and fair trade, afford greater market access to developing countries, and encourage the reduction of subsidies and financial support policies, as well as the elimination of other trade-distorting measures, particularly in agriculture.

The resolution also urges IPU Member parliaments to follow up the Financing for Development process and help make it more effective by reinforcing mechanisms which enable parliamentarians to monitor the work of the multilateral financing institutions. It also called upon parliaments to enact legislation that would strengthen the productive capacity of the grassroots economy.

Parliaments are also asked to encourage the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus by their respective governments, paying particular attention to the development aspect of the multilateral trade and financial systems. Cooperation between IPU, UN the Bretton Woods institutions and WTO is therefore encouraged. Last but not least, it also recommends measures to help eliminate corruption from politics and public administration and from economically powerful entities, and to combat the abuse of power.

The Council elected Szabolcs Fazakas (Hungary), Rudy Salles (France), Shoeib Y. Almansury (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) and Franklin M. Drilon (Philippines) to the IPU Executive Committee. Maryse Berge Lavigne (France) and Paddy Torsney (Canada) were elected titular and substitute members of the Committee on Middle East Questions.

The IPU Committee on the Middle East Questions also met in Geneva. It held a hearing of an Israeli parliamentarian delegation and a Palestinian delegation, in the presence of the President of the People’s Assembly of Egypt, and two representatives of Jordan, as well as an observer from the League of Arab States.

In its report, the Committee asked Parliaments to support the presidential and parliamentary elections which will take place in the Palestinian territories on 20th January 2003. It called for a safe, free and fair process. The Committee called on parliaments to send MPs as observers and asked the IPU to organize a mission to observe the elections.

The Committee also studied the proposal submitted by the Swiss Group and the "Manifesto – Movement for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Middle East", to hold a meeting in Geneva between legislators from the Knesset and the Palestinian Legislative Council. The members of the Committee gave their unanimous support to the proposal and urged the IPU to do its utmost to organize the meeting and play an active part in its work.