In a round of courtesy visits with new Permanent Representatives to the United Nations in Geneva, IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong met with Ambassadors Deyana Kostadinova of Bulgaria, Aviva Raz Shechter of Israel and Yackoley Johnson of Togo.
“I am pleased to welcome the new ambassadors and express my commitment to continuing our work with them on the challenging issues facing their respective parliaments,” explained Mr. Chungong. As a Geneva Gender Champion, Mr. Chungong also applauded the fact that two out of the three permanent representatives he met last week are women, adding to the growing number of women ambassadors in Geneva.
“It is very encouraging to see more women taking up such high-ranking posts,” stated the IPU Secretary General, as he reiterated his personal commitment to gender equality.
The Israeli Ambassador expressed her appreciation for the outcomes of a recent roundtable organized by IPU with MPs from the Middle East, including Israel and Palestine. They examined ways to resolve the region’s critical water shortage.
Mr. Chungong and Ambassador Johnson discussed IPU’s efforts to end the child labour and trafficking in Africa while the meeting with the Bulgarian Ambassador focused on the parliamentary dimension of the work of the UN. They also discussed the empowerment of women and IPU’s initiatives to facilitate the sharing of experiences and best practices on this issue.
