The year 2016 is drawing to a close, and we are about to embark on a new one. In retrospect, we can say it has been an eventful and momentous year. We have witnessed the global community, including parliaments, position themselves to advance an ambitious new development agenda, one that the parliamentary community will be instrumental in implementing. We look forward to working with you in delivering on this.
Unfortunately, 2016 too has been replete with multifaceted crises, both intra-country and inter-country. These crises have challenged parliaments, diverting their attention away from improving the well-being of people to resolving conflicts.
2017 promises to be an even busier year for parliaments on both these fronts: development, and peace and security. We look forward to working with you all in meeting these challenges. The bold new strategy you adopted last November provides a robust roadmap for our common endeavours through 2021. It is a strong mandate for IPU and its Members to implement this two-fold agenda.
We wish you and your families a peaceful holiday season and much success in 2017.
—Saber H. Chowdhury, President, and Martin Chungong, Secretary General
