Press release of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Geneva, 19 January 1999
N° 72

Within the framework of its Technical Co-operation Programme, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) will be sending the Officer in charge of its Programme for the Study and Promotion of Representative Institutions to the Fiji Islands and Burundi. Mr Chungong will spend 25 and 26 January in Korolevu (Fiji) on the occasion of the IInd Seminar organised by the Parliament of Fiji, with the technical assistance of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This meeting, particularly important for the future of democratic institutions in this country, will bring together the main representatives of political parties and ethnic communities on the archipelago. The new Constitution, which was adopted on 25 July 1997 and went into force on 25 July 1998, provides that any political party which obtained at least 10% of the seats in the House of Representatives shall be represented in the Government.

The IPU Officer in Charge of the Programme for the Study and Promotion of Representative Institutions will then travel to Bujumbura to work out with the authorities of the National Assembly of Burundi the modalities for implementing this project aimed at, first, providing emergency assistance to the National Assembly of this country in order to enable it to assume fully its role of a driving force in the peace process initiated in Burundi and, second, strengthening its capacity to oversee Government action.

This project was made possible through co-operation between the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the European Union, which provided the IPU with the sum of 834.079 écus (around US$ 990,000). In addition to covering the participation of Burundian MPs in the peace talks in Arusha (Tanzania), this project also provides for renovating the premises of the National Assembly of Burundi, installing basic equipment (computers, photocopiers, etc.) and procuring vehicles to enable MPs to travel throughout their districts with a view to explaining the peace process and the need for national reconciliation. This project also comprises the provision of consultants to assist the National Assembly in its work and the holding of training and awareness-building courses for MPs and parliamentary staff.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union -- the world organisation of parliaments - currently has 136 Member Parliaments and 4 Associate Members.

Media representatives may get in touch with Ms Luisa Ballin, IPU Information Officer, for an interview or any additional information concerning not only these two files but also the other technical assistance projects which the IPU runs for the benefit of some 15 countries.

Mrs Luisa Ballin may be contacted as follows: tel. 004122 919.41.16 and 919.41.27, fax 004122 733 31 41 and 919.41.60, e-mail: lb@mail.ipu.org and cd@mail.ipu.org.

The IPU also has a Liaison Office in New York: tel. 1.212 557 58 80, fax 1.212 557 39 54, e-mail: ny-office@mail.ipu.org