IPU PRESIDENT MEETS WITH THE CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
During his one-day trip to Washington, D.C. on 12 June 2007, IPU President Pier Ferdinando Casini met with leaders on Capitol Hill to discuss the growing cooperation between IPU and the United States Congress.
In this context, the IPU President and Secretary General met with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Tom Lantos – Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressmen Gregory Meeks and Wayne Gilchrest – co-Chairs of the Congressional Dialogue Caucus, as well as with other members of Congress attending the panel discussion on International Parliamentary Response to HIV/AIDS, organized jointly by IPU, UNAIDS and two Congressional Caucuses. President Casini also held talks with Senator Thomas Daschle and with Kenneth Wollack, President of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), with which IPU has been working closely over the past years.
Underlining their commitment to multilateral parliamentary cooperation, the Congressional leadership proposed a series of concrete measures intended to pave the way towards the reaffiliation of the US Congress to the IPU. In a message addressed to the IPU Assembly held earlier this year in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, Chairman Lantos stressed that "Since its founding more than 100 years ago, the Inter-Parliamentary Union has brought together generations of parliamentarians from around the world to share ideas and work together for global peace. In particular, I have been impressed by the IPU's work to promote human rights and democracy, further gender equality, alleviate global poverty, and encourage United Nations reform. I look forward to a closer relationship between the United States Congress and this important international institution".
In a gesture to mark the closer ties between the IPU and the US Congress, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has requested that a small but representative Congressional delegation attend the forthcoming IPU Assembly, to be held from 8 to 10 October in Geneva, Switzerland.
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