5-6 April 2021

The next Global Parliamentary Workshop will take place virtually ahead of the Spring Meetings of the World Bank & IMF, from the 5-6 April 2021, with the overarching theme “From the Pandemic to the Paris Agreement: How to avoid a great divergence.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has created social and economic hardship across the world. Despite extraordinary policy measures, the effects of the virus have amplified pre-existing inequalities, disproportionately affecting the young, the poor, and women. The risk of an uneven recovery is high unless we use targeted, sector-specific measures, while taking action on climate and managing debt. In this context, we want to create a space to hear from parliaments about their role in the immediate and long-term recovery efforts, including policy measures that work and others which are to be implemented.

The workshop will be an occasion for parliamentarians to share experiences and best practices with senior management and experts from the World Bank Group and IMF about how they are addressing virus containment and the global reset to long-term sustainability and debt management.

The International Secretariat will share the event programme with you in due time. You can address any queries to givanova@parlnet.org or jpo1@parlnet.org.

• Getting to the end of the tunnel: After a terrible year, the COVID-19 vaccines offers hope for the end of the pandemic itself. But the lingering effects still demand a full-scale global effort to contain. How do we ensure vaccine equity? How do we synchronize development, including aid, fiscal, and monetary policy, with vaccine distribution, and how do we guard against complacency to maintain a cooperative international effort through to the finish?

• From lockdown to lift-off: As we go forward how do we guard against a return to 'business as usual'? What traditional approaches should we maintain? What transformations need to be made? Where must we invest and how do we innovate?