The Parliament of India, in cooperation with the IPU, brought together parliamentary leaders from the world’s 20 major economies at the Ninth G20 Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit and Parliamentary Forum, the so-called P20, on 13-14 October in New Delhi, India.
The Summit follows the meeting of the Heads of State of the Group of 20 countries (G20) in September, also hosted by India whicjh holds the G20 presidency this year.
The P20 is a multilateral forum for parliamentary diplomacy which provides a parliamentary dimension to the G20 process.
With the overall theme of “Parliaments for One Earth, One Family, One Future”, delegates exchanged good practice on parliamentary actions to accelerate development, with a focus on transitioning to sustainable energy, promoting women’s leadership and the transformative role of innovation and digital platforms.
The Summit included high-level parliamentary delegations from Australia, Brazil, China, the European Parliament, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye and the United Kingdom, as well as from the newest member of the G20, the African Union represented by its parliamentary branch, the Pan-African Parliament.
In the Joint Statement adopted at the end of the Summit, the Speakers of Parliament reaffirmed their commitment to promote ‘international peace, prosperity and harmony, including supporting the peaceful resolution of conflicts and disputes.”
They also called on “all states to uphold the principles of international law including territorial integrity and sovereignty, international humanitarian law, and the multilateral system that safeguards peace and stability.”
The Summit builds on the legacy of previous P20 Speakers’ Summits (Indonesia in 2022, Italy in 2021, Japan in 2019 and Argentina in 2018).
Brazil is expected to host next year’s P20 as part of its presidency of the G20.
Quotes and background:
IPU President, Duarte Pacheco, said: "It's impossible to talk about sustainable and developmental goals in a future without peace. We need to defend peace in all continents including in the Middle East. Peace should be on the front page. Even a single death is too much."
Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Indian Parliament, Om Birla, said " For us, democracy is a priceless heritage. It is reflected in our thoughts, behaviour and traditions. When we got independence, democracy was the basic foundation of our nation. The Ninth P20 Summit represents our commitment towards efforts to preserve democratic values, international cooperation and finding solutions to issues of global importance and current challenges."
G20 members represent 85% of global economic output, two-thirds of the world’s population and 75% of international trade. The G20 Forum initially focused on broad macroeconomic issues, but it has expanded its agenda to now include trade, climate change, sustainable development, health, agriculture, energy, the environment and anti-corruption.
