ON HIS FIRST OFFICIAL VISIT, NEW IPU PRESIDENT PIER FERDINANDO CASINI WILL GO TO THE UNITED NATIONS AND WASHINGTON
The newly elected President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Mr. Pier Ferdinando Casini, Speaker of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, will be at the United Nations on 31 October and 1 November to preside over the annual Parliamentary Hearing at the United Nations. President Casini will meet with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, and the President of the General Assembly, Mr. Jan Eliasson.
"It is fitting that my first trip abroad as the new President of the IPU should be to the United Nations: I want to start immediately to look at the concrete ways in which we can build on the achievements of the past few years to enhance the role of parliaments in international relations, and at the United Nations in particular" said President Casini. He added that "there is too much at stake - in the management of globalization and in dealing with the many challenges in the fields of development, security and democracy - not to make this a top priority for me and for the organization I was elected to guide".
The visit of the IPU President comes in the wake of the Second World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments and of the 2005 World Summit, both of which reaffirmed the importance of strengthening the relationship between the United Nations and the IPU.
The IPU Parliamentary Hearing that will take place next week will be the first opportunity since the Conference and the Summit for President Casini and parliamentarians from all over the world to address IPU-United Nations cooperation on such critical as United Nations reform, terrorism, peace-building, and the principle of the responsibility to protect. The IPU Hearing, entitled Our shared responsibility for a stronger United Nations to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century, will take place at United Nations Headquarters, in the chamber of the Economic and Social Council.
Visit to Washington
The IPU President also intends to voice a political message in Washington, D.C., where he will meet with the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Mr. Dennis Hastert, and several other congressional leaders. At the top of the agenda in the discussions will be cooperation between the United States Congress and the IPU in promoting peace and democracy around the world. "The IPU is proud to count 143 Member Parliaments in its family" explained President Casini, adding that "the United States Congress provides a superb model of accountability and transparency. I look forward to building a strong working relationship with it".
Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the IPU, the oldest multilateral political organisation, currently brings together 143 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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In Geneva: Mrs. Luisa Ballin, IPU Information Officer
5, ch. du Pommier, CH - 1218 Le Grand-Saconnex / Geneva
Tel. +41 22 919 41 16/27
Fax: +41 22 919 41 60
E-mail: lb@mail.ipu.org or cbl@mail.ipu.org
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