The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, took part on Thursday 1 October in the opening of the 12th Ibero-American Parliamentary Forum, which is being held at the Spanish Parliament over two days and will be attended by parliamentary representatives from the Ibero-American Community. The opening session also featured addresses by His Majesty the King; the President of the Congress of Deputies, Francina Armengol; the President of the Senate, Pedro Rollán; and the Ibero-American Secretary-General, Andrés Allamand.
The Forum will host five keynote speeches by leading figures from the academic and political spheres, as well as four working sessions focusing on the impact of artificial intelligence and how parliaments are adapting to this technology; fragmentation, polarisation, disinformation and populism; gender equality; and the relevance of parliamentary diplomacy.
It is planned that conclusions will be adopted reaffirming the commitment of Ibero-American parliaments to inter-parliamentary cooperation, the strengthening of democracy and the defence of the shared values underpinning the Ibero-American Community. These conclusions will be submitted to the Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, to be held in Madrid on 4 and 5 November.
“We will continue to work to ensure that our parliaments fully represent a diverse and gender-balanced citizenry. So that we can tackle climate change and so that our parliaments are able to adapt to the technological transformations of our time, particularly the challenge posed by artificial intelligence,” Minister Albares emphasised during the opening session.
The Ibero-American Parliamentary Forum was established in Bilbao in 2005 on the initiative of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate within the framework of the Ibero-American Summit held in Salamanca, with the aim of facilitating interaction between the assemblies and parliaments of the 22 Ibero-American countries and establishing a link between the legislative branches and the heads of state and government. Its most recent edition was held in Santo Domingo in 2022.
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