Dear fellow bloggers,

Yesterday I had a unique experience that I would like to share with you. Yesterday morning I have been at the Inaugural Ceremony of the Third World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments in Geneva, in the presence of Mr. Ban Ki Moon, United Nations Secretary-General.

Ban Ki Moon addressed his speech to the delegates of the national parliaments and spoke about the role of the national parliaments. Those have a great responsibility because they represent the people of their country, in other words they are the symbol of democracy.

Global issues are local issues that MPs see every day. That`s why it is important a strong collaboration between the UN and the national parliaments.

In the last 5 years many international crisis took place, including the economic, food, and climate change ones. There is therefore a need of collective leadership of the UN, but to be effective there should be both a global and a local action. He has underlined many times that the parliaments are the emblem of the democratic accountability and leadership is needed in order to ratify treaties, fight climate change, and promote economic development. Parliaments have also the duty of monitoring the activities of their governments reminding them of their international obligations as well as their commitments.

According to the Kantian principle and pragmatic analysis, democratic countries are less likely to use war and to endure civil wars, therefore strengthening the role of the parliaments as well as of the local minorities is a way to support peace, security, stability, and prosperity in the world. Those objectives are highly important in the view of the Millenium Development Goals.

Only 5 years to go to the MDG, and a special summit of the General Assembly of the UN will take place in September in New York, as we all know here in our TH!NK3 community. Some people may say that the goals are irrealistic, or that there isn’t enough time. According to Ban Ki Moon, the MDG are not too ambitious and that we can make it, but to do so, the UN has to act globally AND locally. This can’t happen without the collaboration of the national parliaments.

Overall it has been a unique experience. Seeing Ban Ki Moon in real life addressing this speech to many Presidents of the Parliaments that came from all over the world to speak to each other, build trust, and share possible solutions makes multilateralism a pragmatic reality. It was also interesting to see the different delegates, with their traditional clothes and cultures. Here, I have understood that even if living in very different environments, everyone in this world is to face the same problems. Yet, only united, together, we can assure peace, stability, and prosperity in this world.