The IPU Executive Committee met this week in Montevideo, Uruguay, for its 288th session as well as to celebrate the 133rd anniversary of the IPU on International Day of Parliamentarism on 30 June. In parallel, the IPU, in partnership with the Uruguay Parliament, organized a Regional Seminar on Climate Change for the Parliaments of Latin America and the Caribbean.
IPU President, Duarte Pacheco, said “The story of the IPU is one of hope and the incredible power that countries have when they work together. Our founders in 1889 understood that dialogue and parliamentary diplomacy were the most effective ways to resolve disagreements at the time. Today, those core values have never been more relevant with a world facing war, famine and the climate emergency. Today parliamentarians play a fundamental role in finding solutions to these challenges”.
IPU Vice-President for Latin America and the Caribbean, Beatriz Argimòn, said “When the IPU talks about the importance of more youth in parliaments, it is referring to an intergenerational transition that is essential for democracies to become stronger. When it talks about gender equality, it is referring to a necessary prerequisite for quality democracies. These priorities are thanks in no small part to the IPU’s Executive Committee, which met in Montevideo for the first time this week. We need more strong democracies around the world that can stand shoulder to shoulder. For Uruguay, it is an honour to be part of the IPU, and even more so to celebrate International Day of Parliamentarism and the role that parliaments play in democracies around the world. We will continue in our fight together to ensure that there are more democracies in the world and that they become stronger every day."
On the occasion of the 133rd anniversary, the Uruguay Post Office, in partnership with the Parliament of Uruguay, issued a commemorative stamp to celebrate parliamentarism and the IPU’s foundation date in 1889.
The International Day of Parliamentarism is celebrated every year on June 30, a date established in 2018 through a Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, in commemoration of the day on which the IPU was created in 1889.
