BEIJING, Sept. 2 -- The IPU convened the Conference of Presiding Officers of National Parliaments at United Nations Headquarters in New York. The Conference was held in conjunction with the Millennium Assembly and took place in the United Nations General Assembly Hall from 30 August to 1 September 2000.

    At its 53rd and 54th sessions, the United Nations General Assembly welcomed the initiative of the IPU to hold the Conference of Presiding Officers of National Parliaments.

    The aims of the Conference are to express support for international cooperation and to enshrine a commitment at the highest level by parliaments to work much more closely with the UN system and other major international negotiating fora both nationally and globally through their world organisation, the IPU. The Conference is part of the IPU's efforts to strengthen its cooperation with the UN, as envisaged in the Agreement of Cooperation concluded between the two Organisations in 1996.

    In order to prepare the Conference, the IPU set up a Preparatory Committee composed of the President of the IPU Council, several Presiding Officers and other MPs. The Committee met in Vienna (January 1999), in Rabat (September 1999) and in Geneva (January 2000) to draw up the practical arrangements for the Conference, to draft the Rules of the Conference, and to prepare a Declaration for the Conference.

    The Declaration, entitled the "Parliamentary vision for international cooperation at the dawn of the third millennium", highlights the main challenges facing the world community and the United Nations in the twenty-first century, describes changes in international relations and outlines the national, regional and international parliamentary dimension of international cooperation. The first drafts were prepared by a Working Group. The IPU geopolitical groups and the national parliaments represented in the IPU were given an opportunity to study the text and make proposals prior to its finalisation at the third and last meeting of the Preparatory Committee. Presiding Officers of national parliaments provided their perspective on the Declaration in their speeches and adopted it by consensus.

(Source: www.ipu.org)