IPU President Saber Chowdhury has welcomed a new UN-IPU cooperation agreement signed yesterday at UN Headquarters in New York. Building on the growing partnership and interaction between the two organizations, the agreement places the relationship on a stronger footing and will facilitate greater cooperation at the political and operational levels on behalf of “we the peoples”.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development needs parliamentarians engaged fully to ensure its success. This ambitious world agenda, which includes urgent action on climate change, disaster risk reduction and enhanced governance worldwide, requires effective national SDG plans, adequate resources, enhanced oversight and strong support from the world’s 45,000 parliamentarians.
“I am pleased to see this agreement signed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong, and look forward to deeper and more frequent engagement between the UN and IPU,” said IPU President Chowdhury. Among other things, the new agreement will ensure enhanced information exchanges and sharing of best practices in strengthening parliamentary capacity worldwide.
IPU Secretary General Chungong said the new agreement marked a significant step forward in relations. “As the world organization of parliaments, IPU works to ensure parliaments are engaged in the major UN processes, bringing a parliamentary perspective on global issues and mainstreaming international commitments into the day-to-day work of parliaments, with a view to ensuring peace, dignity and prosperity for all.”
On many occasions, UN Secretary-General Ban has expressed his steadfast support for the engagement of parliaments and parliamentarians in support of the far-reaching UN agenda. “I sincerely hope that with this cooperation agreement we will strengthen much more our cooperative partnership between IPU and the United Nations”.
Mr. Ban noted that this was a new agreement for a new era. “Let’s work together, working closely to meet the expectations and aspirations of many people”. He added, “We are working for the people, our planet, peace, prosperity and partnership”, known as the 5 “Ps”.
Following the signing ceremony, Mr. Chungong and his senior team held a meeting with the UN Secretary-General.
