DILI, 08 september 2021 (TATOLI) – Over 110 speakers of the Parliament from around the world met at the Fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, in Vienna, Austria, on 7-8 september.
The Conference was organized jointly by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Austrian Parliament, in cooperation with the United Nations.
About 110 Speakers of the Parliament from around the globe attended the conference, including the President of the National Parliament of Timor-Leste, Aniceto Guterres, accompanied by his Vice President, Luis Roberto da Silva and MP Antonio da Conceição.
“Timor-Leste has been working on combating the climate change and building its resilience to the climate change, to ensure sustainable development,” said Guterres in a statement.
Four topics would be discussed during the two-day conference – climate change, sustainable development, economic recovery, and Combating Covid-19.
Speaking at the conference, the President of the National Parliament, Aniceto Guterres said that in the last decade, the world experienced an extreme alteration in global politics and economy due to the effects of climate change and Covid-19.
He said the global economy contracted 7.8 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic recession as the socioeconomic was seriously impacted, saying the global economy is expected to extract by 1.8 percent in 2021 and 2.0 percent in 2022.
Guterres informed that to face these new challenges, the Government’s Support Schemes for COVID-19 Response was implemented to strengthen the economy of the vulnerable families, public health, and entrepreneurs.
In addition, he said to combat the Covid-19, so far, Government is committed to getting the majority of its population vaccinated: “In Timor-Leste, of the 754.864 eligible groups, 52.5 percent had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, of which 27.8 percent have been fully vaccinated.”
“In April 2021, the Tropical Cyclone Seroja hit Timor-Leste, resulting in significant loss of life and displacement. While the agricultural land and population’s crops were destroyed which cost the nation an estimated loss of US$200 million. With this bitter experience, we think strengthening our resilience to climate change was a crucial step towards sustainable development,” said Guterres.
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is an international organization of parliaments of sovereign states established, in 1889, in Paris to promote representative democracy, world peace, and resolving conflicts through international arbitration.
Every country in the world has some form of parliament. Parliamentary systems fall into two categories: bicameral and unicameral. Out of 193 countries in the world, 79 are bicameral and 113 are unicameral, making a total of 272 chambers of parliament with over 46,000 members of parliament. IPU membership is made up of 179 national parliaments, said in the IPU website: https://www.ipu.org/national-parliaments
IPU currents members included: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Journalist: Evaristo Soares Martins
Editor: Cancio Ximenes
Translation: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia Borges Rosario
