The World e-Parliament Conference 2012 was held at the Chamber of Deputies of Italy, in Rome, on 13 and 14 September. The Conference was co-organized by the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, through the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament, and gathered the community of parliaments – with delegations from more than 130 countries – to reflect on the new opportunities offered by ICTs to improve representation, transparency, accountability, openness and effectiveness of parliaments worldwide.

About 400 presiding officers and members of parliaments, secretaries-general, parliamentary staff and officials, experts from international organizations and academics had the opportunity to share good practices and exchange views on new trends of ICTs in legislatures and latest institutional developments, at the same time networking with peers and building partnerships.

The Africa i-Parliaments Action Plan was invited to present its main products, Bungeni Parliamentary Information and Legislative System and Akoma Ntoso Open Standard for legal documents.

During two sessions of the conference, discussions focused on Bungeni features, architecture and way forward, with a particular attention to the experience of countries currently working on the deployment of Bungeni, their challenges and their experiences.

Akoma Ntoso was at the centre of two more sessions, which were devoted to the use of XML applications and services in parliament as well as to the importance of inter-parliamentary cooperation to achieve an international legislative and parliamentary XML standard. More than 20 parliaments expressed their willingness to use Akoma Ntoso, making it a de facto standard for parliamentary documents.

Meetings with delegations from Asia and Latin American were held, confirming how the interest in Bungeni and Akoma Ntoso is growing strong in both these continents. Engaging debates followed each presentation, as a result of the great appreciation that Bungeni and Akoma Ntoso receive not just among parliaments but also among “Parliamentary Monitoring Organisations” (PMO), with interesting development hopefully in the near future. Developments that will expand Bungeni and Akoma user base, and their sustainability.