Event Date: May 31, 2017 - 10:00am to 11:30
Location: FSS 4004, 120 University Private

Presented by CIPS and the Canadian Group of the IPU

Mr. Saber Chowdhury is a distinguished politician with an impressive track record in public service in Bangladesh and extensive experience in inter-parliamentary relations. He is the 28th President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Prior to his election, he served as President of the IPU Standing Committee on Peace and International Security (2010–2014) and, briefly, as a member of the IPU Standing Committee on United Nations Affairs (2014).

As IPU President, he is also a member of the high level group — Every Woman Every Child — a global movement to champion the health of women, children, and adolescents led by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.  The group’s members comprise leaders from governments around the world, the international business community, philanthropists, and prominent young people.

Having begun his career as an entrepreneur, Mr. Chowdhury embraced full-time politics in 1996. He has been prominent in enacting ground-breaking legislation, such as the private member’s bill to repeal the Leper’s Act (doing away with the segregation of lepers and facilitating their treatment and integration into society) and the criminalization of custodial torture.

Mr. Chowdhury is a champion of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Disaster Risk Reduction focus to help deal with climate change.