The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; French: L'Union Interparlementaire (UIP)) is an international organization established in 1889 by William Randal Cremer (United Kingdom) and Frédéric Passy (France). It was the first permanent forum for political multilateral negotiations. Initially, the organization was for individual parliamentarians, but has since transformed into an international organization of the parliaments of sovereign states. The national parliaments of 162 countries are members of the IPU, and 10 regional parliamentary assemblies are associate members. The IPU has permanent observer status at the United Nations.
Read more about Inter-Parliamentary Union: History, Conferences, Amendments To The Statutes, The IPU and The United Nations
Famous quotes containing the word union:
“Visitors who come from the Soviet Union and tell you how marvellous it is to be able to look at public buildings without advertisements stuck all over them are just telling you that they can’t decipher the cyrillic alphabet.”
—Clive James (b. 1939)