A delegation from the Gibraltar Parliament attended the 54th Regional Conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association British Islands and Mediterranean Region held at the Welsh Senedd in Cardiff Bay, Wales, last week.  

A statement from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Gibraltar Branch follows below:

The Gibraltar Branch was represented by the Hon Leslie Bruzon MP, Minister for Industrial  Relations, Civil Contingencies and Sport who was the leader of the Gibraltar delegation, the Hon  Christian Santos GMD MP, Minister for Equality, Employment, Culture and Tourism and  Opposition Members the Hon Edwin Reyes MP and the Hon Craig Sacarello MP. Mr Phillip  Borge McCarthy, the Hon Secretary of the Gibraltar Branch accompanied the delegation. 

The theme of the Conference was: “Addressing the Needs of a Modern Parliament”. This topic  stimulated plenty of discussion and explored the challenges in different legislatures and the  needs of Parliamentarians in an evolving, modern and digital democratic culture. The  Conference took the form of a series of plenary sessions addressed by invited speakers on  selected relevant topics followed by workshops in which delegates were invited to contribute  and discuss.  

Minister Santos was panellist for one of the workshops and, as Gibraltar’s first male openly gay  Minister, spoke about the importance of LGBT voices in Parliament. He was then asked to form  part of the BIMR LGBT+ Network that was launched as part of the conference. There were  contributions from all Gibraltar delegates during the course of the conference.