Montevideo, Sep 26 (EFE).- In a climate of celebration, the Interparliamentary Union (IPU) inaugurated this Tuesday in the capital of Uruguay its new regional headquarters for Latin America and the Caribbean, which will aim to facilitate the exchange of information and of “good legislative practices”.
This was highlighted to EFE within the framework of the inauguration of the organization’s first headquarters in Latin America, which will operate within the Mercosur Building – headquarters of the Southern Common Market block of South American countries – in Montevideo, the president of the UIP, Duarte Pacheco.
“A year ago the IPU organized an Executive Committee meeting here and at the final press conference the vice president (of Uruguay, Beatriz Argimón) asked ‘can we have the office? and ‘when?’. I responded in front of the entire press ‘next year’ and here we are a year later,” said the Portuguese.
According to Pacheco, the American continent is “the one that was furthest” from the IPU’s main headquarters in Geneva (Switzerland), so the invitation from Uruguay, a country that he described as “stable”, “safe” and “with people affable”, was very well received by the international organization which, created in 1889, is one of the oldest in the world.
On the other hand, the president of the UIP highlighted that this office, which, he said, “will collaborate with all the parliaments of Latin America”, will have among its objectives to facilitate exchange between the parliaments of the region on key issues.
“The problems that exist in Africa are not the same as those they have here and that is why it is good (…), we can share information on the fight against drug trafficking or the fight against climate change or corruption and then each parliament is free to do or not , to adapt to their own reality or not,” he expressed.
Likewise, he pointed out that the newly inaugurated headquarters “has to share good legislative practices with parliaments” and said that, aligned with the objectives of the UIP, another of its purposes will be to work on the training of parliamentarians.
Held simultaneously with the second World Summit of Future Commissions, which began last Monday at the Legislative Palace of Uruguay, the inauguration of the IPU headquarters was attended by various legislators who make up this Union.
Present at the ceremony, the speaker of the Parliament of Malawi, Catherine Gotani Hara, expressed her joy at the creation of this headquarters, which, she said, will be added, in Egypt, by the regional headquarters for Africa.
“As someone who aspires to preside over the IPU this is good news to my ears and I hope that other regions can also emulate it because we want the IPU to be closer to the people,” he concluded.
Headquartered in Geneva, the IPU is currently made up of 178 national parliaments and more than 46,000 deputies and is dedicated to the defense of peace and positive democratic change, among other purposes.
