Parliamentary Network Bulletin

The 2018 Global Parliamentary Conference: 16-17 April, 2018, Washington D.C.

The 2018 Global Parliamentary Conference took place in Washington D.C. on April 16 - 17. More than 200 participants, including 124 Members of Parliaments from 65 countries, attended the two-day event at the World Bank Headquarters. This year’s Parliamentary conference was dynamic and innovating, bringing the attention on various subjects including gender equality, good governance, tax facilitation and global economic governance.

Discover the photos of the event
Watch the video of the special session with the leadership of the World Bank and IMF

On this occasion, the second day of the event was dedicated to the Parliamentary Symposium on Youth Job Creation, organized in collaboration with Peace Child International. The event introduced new forms of discussion and diversified the pool of experts involved, which ensured a positive feedback from the participant parliamentarians.
Lastly, the Global Parliamentary Conference 2018 offered the perfect opportunity for the launch of the booklet entitled “The Case for Urgent Action on Youth Employment”, published by the Parliamentary Network in collaboration with Peace Child International. The booklet is the perfect starting point for parliamentarians to inform themselves about the current global situation on youth employment, as well as finding valuable examples of projects implemented to address this issue and a prospective from the young generation itself on what needs to be done.

Discover the Parliamentary Network's Booklet

This year’s OECD Forum will take place in Paris on May 29-30. Based on last year’s OECD Forum focusing on analyzing our economies and finding a common purpose to boost development, this year’s event will move from diagnosis to action, exploring possible solutions to increase international cooperation. The Forum will focus on three main topics:

International Co-operation
Inclusive Growth
Digitalization

The Parliamentary Network invites all its members to participate and take advantage of this exceptional opportunity to dialogue and discuss issues that concern all our countries.

On April 21^st, 2018 the World Bank Group’s Development Committee of the Board of Governors approved a package of measures aiming at increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of World Bank’s actions. The approved package includes $13 billion paid-in capital increase for IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) and IFC (International Finance Corporation), as well as a series of internal reforms, operational changes and loan pricing measures aimed at strengthening the World Bank Group.
“Through the historic agreement endorsed today, our shareholders have clearly demonstrated a renewed confidence in global cooperation, and we greatly appreciate this strong support from our member countries” said World Bank Group’s President Dr. Jim Kim.
Moreover, the Development Committee in this occasion also accepted the recommendations of the Shareholding Review, completed by the World Bank earlier this year, and reiterated its commitment to the four key priorities established by the World Bank’s Forward Look:

Stay engaged with all clients;
Lead on the Global Public Goods agenda;
Mobilize capital and markets;
Continuously improve effectiveness and the internal operational model of the World Bank.

Find out more
Discover the World Bank’s Shareholding Review here
Discover the World Bank’s Forward Look here

Before 1800, nearly everyone on the planet was poor. Royalty and large landowners were a small minority, and wealth was tied to land – those who controlled land, controlled much of the world's wealth. Nearly everyone else lived in poverty. This was what society looked like for virtually the entire recorded history of humanity.
Throughout that history, the vast majority of people were born and died in largely the same circumstances. Then starting in the early 1800s, the industrial revolution and steam power enabled manufacturing and changed the nature of work. Technology drove down the cost of moving goods, fueling trade and economic growth that forever altered the world’s economy. For a few overall, quality of life improved tremendously, but many others were left out of the arc of progress. These disparities, which have continued – and in some cases worsened – in the past two centuries, contributed to the realization that organizations like the World Bank Group were necessary.
We are now going through a similar period of disruption and upheaval, and what we do with this technological revolution will shape the next chapter in the ongoing project of human progress and human solidarity[...].

General elections in Malaysia took place on May 9, 2018 and, since the country’s independence, they were the most people-dividing general elections. Results saw Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, leader of the Barisan Nasional (National Front Alliance), suffer a stunning election loss against Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister and currently leader of the opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan after an unexpected change of sides.
Discontent in the country with Najib has been growing in the past few years, especially amongst Malaysia’s ethnic Chinese minority. Indeed, the National Front alliance is lead by Mr. Najib’s United Malays National Organization, which privileges the country’s Malay majority in various areas. Additional concerns about the national leader had been recently raised by a financial scandal, investigated by the United States Department of Justice, which saw Mr. Najib involved in the mishandling of at least $3.5 billion connected to One Malaysia Development Berhad (or 1MDB) $751 million of which were deposited in bank accounts controlled by Mr. Najib. In addition to these factors, Najib’s strategy for this year’s elections was not much different from the one used in 2013, focusing on race-based policies and money and resulting in a much weaker force of traction.
Out of the 222 Parliament’s seats, the National Front Coalition collected only 79, against the 121 seats won by the opposition. Najib’s loss at the parliamentary level was accompanied by a significant reduction of elected members of the Coalition in the 12 state legislatures contested in the elections. This is the first time in the history of independent Malaysia that Barisan Nasional is not ruling the country.
Pakatan Harapan, the winning opposition coalition, collected 121 seats in the Parliament, enough to form a simple majority and take control of the House. The new Malaysian Prime Minister, at 92 years old, is Mahathir Mohamad.
The opposition party, despite the clear victory at the polls, is not immune from doubts and question marks about the future governance of the country. Firstly, the coalition gathers very different parties and ideologies, from minorities parties like the Chinese liberals and Islamists, to nationalist Malays. Secondly, amongst the current prominent members of the coalition there is more than one veteran opposition leader who, during the long tenure of former Prime Minister Mr. Mahathir, faced jail and harassment. Amongst them is Anwar Ibrahim, former Deputy Prime Minister to Mr. Mahathir, who lost his favor and faced jail twice (and is currently still imprisoned). It is still unclear how, now that the Pakatan Harapan has won the elections, the two opponents will manage to work together.

On April 25, 2018, Dr Abass Bundu was elected Speaker of the Sierra Leone Parliament almost unanimously, collecting 71 votes out of the 77 Members of Parliament that participated in the election.
However, the Parliament of Sierra Leone is composed of 146 Members of Parliament 68 of which were forcefully removed from the House of Parliament immediately before the elections. The 68 removed MPs represent the All People’s Congress party, the biggest opposition party in the Sierra Leone Parliament. The process began even before the parliamentary sitting with the Sierra Leone People’s Party (or SLPP) of which Dr. Bundu is member, filing a petition to the High Court against 15 MPs of the APC that resolved in an injunction barring them from attending the session. The remaining MPs were forced to leave the room by the police right before the election.
Of the Members of Parliament that participated to the session, only 4 members of the National Grand Coalition abstained from the vote. Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella, leader of the NGC, said the Party stood for constituency and believed the process should have not gone on “especially when almost 50% of the parliamentarians had been forcefully removed from the process”.

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PN Bulletin - May 2018 Edition

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