Martin Chungong has been given a new four-year lease as Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). The decision was taken at the 136th IPU Assembly, which took place in Dhaka, Bangladesh, last week.
At the end of the five-day global parliamentary summit, the IPU Governing Council, its plenary decision-making body, decided unanimously to renew its confidence in Cameroonian-born Chungong. He was first elected Secretary General in March 2014 for a four-year term, due to expire on 30 June 2018.
Accepting the new term, which will run from 1 July 2018, Mr. Chungong stated that he looked forward to working with the world parliamentary community to continue to modernize the IPU and firmly establish its relevance in addressing manifold challenges. These include implementing its strategy for 2017-2021, striving for stronger links between democracy and well-being, contributing to the 2030 development agenda and joining global efforts to stem the tide of terrorism and violent extremism. He pledged to help the IPU mobilize parliaments around these challenges. In his view, for parliaments to succeed, they need to be more inclusive in their processes and give more voice to marginalized groups such as women and the youth. The Secretary General’s priority will involve leaving no parliament behind in a bid to strengthen the hand of the IPU, the world organization of parliaments.
Mr. Chungong is the eighth Secretary General of the IPU and the first non-European to hold this office in the Organization's 128-year history.
