1 — 3 November 2020, an extraordinary 206th session of the Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union was held.

The meeting was held in a videoconference format. It was attended by delegates from 144 national parliaments. The National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus was represented by Chairperson of the Standing Commission of the House of Representatives on International Affairs Andrei Savinykh, Chairperson of the Standing Commission of the Council of the Republic for Foreign Affairs and National Security Sergei Rachkov and Member of the Standing Commission of the House of Representatives on Human Rights, National Relations and Mass Media Maria Vasilevich.

Founded in 1889 the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is the world's largest parliamentary body that unites the parliaments of 179 countries. Our country joined the IPU in 1995 and since then has been actively participating in its activities.

The central issue on the Governing Council's agenda was the election of a new President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Ms. Gabriela Cuevas Barron, a Mexican parliamentarian, was elected as the President of the IPU in October 2017 and her term expired on 19 October 2020. Candidates for the post of the President of the IPU were: Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan  Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani, Member of Parliament of Portugal Duarte Pacheco, First Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis (Parliament) of Uzbekistan Akmal Saidov and Senator of Canada Salma Ataullahjan.

Mr. Duarte Pacheco has been elected as the President of the IPU after an online election during an extraordinary session.

During the event, delegates also heard a report by Ms. Gabriela Cuevas Barron on overall activity during her three-year term as President of the IPU, adopted an IPU budget and programme of work for 2021.