The United Nations established the International Day of Parliamentarism supporting the IPA CIS initiative

On 22 May, at the 72^nd session the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution “Interaction between the United Nations, national parliaments and the Inter-Parliamentary Union”. According to the article 21 of the Resolution, the General Assembly decided to establish on 30 June the International Day of Parliamentarism. It invited all member states, national parliaments and UN agencies and other international organizations, representatives of civil society, including NGOs, and other parties concerned to celebrate this day and facilitate raising awareness about this new holiday.

On 27 March 2017, on the proposal of the IPA CIS Permanent Commission on Culture, Information, Tourism and Sport, the IPA CIS Council adopted a decision to address the Inter‑Parliamentary Union, as an associate IPU member, with the initiative to establish the International Day of Parliamentarism. The IPU included this issue in the text of the resolution “20^th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration on Democracy: Sharing our diversity” that was adopted at the final session of the 137^th Assembly of the IPU in St. Petersburg on 18 October 2017. Following the adoption of this resolution, it addressed the United Nations, as an organization responsible for taking a relevant decision.

30 June was not chosen without reason. It was on that day in 1889 that the First Inter‑Parliamentary Conference was held in Paris. It became a starting point in the history of the Inter-Parliamentary Union – the largest association of MPs from 178 countries.

The joint efforts of the IPA CIS and the IPU facilitated further progress in strengthening cooperation among MPs from different countries. According to the adopted resolution, the IPA CIS will contribute to the promotion of the International Day of Parliamentarism in the CIS Member States and in the parliamentary community, in particular.