The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Maja Gojković met today with the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Gabriela Cuevas Barron who arrived in Belgrade today for the 141st Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union hosted by the Serbian Assembly from 13 to 17 October.
Gojković said that Serbia is proud to be hosting parliamentary delegations from 150 countries from around the world, among them 80 parliament speakers and 60 deputy speakers, one of the IPU’s records. Gojković stressed that the large numbers of parliament speakers and participants are a good indicator that this will be an important political event.
The Serbian Assembly Speaker pointed out that the IPU Assembly in Belgrade marks an important jubilee – the 130th anniversary of the organization and is also the first IPU Assembly to be held in a European country outside of Geneva in 20 years.
Gojković emphasized the importance of the Belgrade Assembly in context of the debate on current global challenges and its overreaching theme – Strengthening international law: Parliamentary roles and mechanisms, and the contribution of regional cooperation.
Gojković and Cuevas Barron emphasized the importance of interparliamentary dialogue and of the many events to be held under the auspices of the Assembly viz. the Forum of Women Parliamentarians and Forum of Young Parliamentarians and the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Gojković and Cuevas Barron said that the 141st IPU Assembly is globally very important from the aspect of the topics that it is to tackle such as child protection, improvement of health coverage, employment, climate change, gender equality and the youth, and Gojkovic took the opportunity to mention that young volunteers are involved in the 141st Assembly to learn first-hand more about the IPU’s work.