The parliamentary community, through the IPU and its partners, has contributed to the development effectiveness debate for quite some time. Part of this contribution was reflected in the Paris Declaration (2005), the Accra Agenda for Action (2008) and the Busan Declaration (2011). Several resolutions, declarations, case studies, reports and other documents have also been prepared to provide additional input from the parliamentary community.

The IPU and that National Assembly of Korea, in cooperation with AWEPA, organized a parliamentary forum on the occasion of the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF 4) in Busan in November 2011. The report from this forum, which was presented to the HLF 4 plenary, sent a strong message about the role and responsibilities of parliaments in development cooperation. Subsequently, the IPU was invited to represent parliaments on the Steering Committee of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation. There is an urgent need to continue to strengthen the input of parliaments to development cooperation processes that are taking place at the global level.

The Parliamentary Forum in Mexico will serve to:

• Review how the Global Partnership has done in meeting its commitments on effective development cooperation, particularly those concerning parliaments (indicators 6 and 7);
• Send a strong message about the need to strengthen parliaments so that they can contribute to development effectiveness processes as key partners at the country level;
• Articulate a parliamentary perspective on the key themes of the HLM, including domestic resource mobilization;
• Encourage follow-up by parliaments and their inclusion in aid structures at country level.