As a launch of PGA’s Parliamentary Action on the 1 for 7 Billion Campaign, the Chair of the PGA UN Committee H.E. Amb. Christian Wenawesser, Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein to the UN, hosted a meeting of Experts of the 1 for 7 Billion Campaign, with the purpose to brief the Members of the PGA Executive Committee on the importance of parliamentary involvement of this Campaign.

This PGA High-Level Roundtable Discussion and Strategy Meeting on the 1 for 7 billion campaign, hosted by the Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein to the UN on June 1^st 2015, culminated in the adoption by the PGA Executive Committee of a Model Parliamentary Motion in English, French and Spanish (see sidebar) benefitting from expert inputs of leaders of the 1 for 7 Billion Campaign such as Mr. Bill Pace, Executive Director, World Federalist Movement, H.E. Amb. Mr. Juan Carlos Mendoza García, Perm. Rep. of Costa Rica to the UN and H.E. Amb. Ms. Minna-Liina Lind, Deputy Permanent Representative of Estonia to the UN.

The latter enables the members of PGA (MPs) to urge their respective governments to ensure that the candidates endorsed for the position of the UN Secretary-General are the most-qualified to conduct a capable and effective leadership of the UN Secretariat, with due regard to gender equality and geographic balance.

Moreover, the tabled Motions by PGA Members shall support improvements to the selection process to make it fair, open, inclusive and geared to producing the best-qualified candidates, without prejudice to the role of the principal organs enshrined in Article 97 of the Charter.

The PGA Executive Committee is convinced about the importance of this new PGA Campaign and decided that in follow up to this meeting, the PGA Secretariat shall actively promote this idea among its members around the world and assist the almost 1200 PGA Members from 142 countries in tailoring these draft parliamentary motions for each specific country, so that the MPs may table these resolutions during their parliament’s question time.