Speaker of Morocco's upper chamber in Inter-parliamentary union's 130th Assembly in Geneva

More than 715 parliamentarians from 141 countries will commit to efforts to make the world free from nuclear weapons and elect a new Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union at the130th IPU Assembly, the organization says on its website.

"With more than 17,000 nuclear weapons believed to exist in the world and many on launch standby, nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation remain an urgent priority in making the world a safer place", says the source.

"As an Organization that since 1889 has been dedicated to peace and strengthening democracy, our eye is firmly on the future and how to most effectively deal with the challenges to human security and democratic values by harnessing the power of those that represent the global citizenry," says IPU President Abdelwahad Radi.

During the session, a new secretary general will be elected to succeed to Anders Johnsson.

The three following candidates have been shortlisted by IPU's executive committee: current IPU Deputy Secretary General, Martin Chungong (Cameroon), former Secretary General of Parliamentarians for Global Action, Shazia Rafi (Pakistan), and former Belgian MP, Geert Versnick.

The 130th Assembly will also bring together women parliamentarians from across the world in the first of their bi-annual meetings at IPU. The meeting, the 19th of its kind, will examine amongst other things women's priorities for the next ten years. These would then be integrated into their individual work in their national parliament.

The Forum of Young Parliamentarians, formally established a year ago, will continue its work to provide a youth perspective into the decision-making process of IPU's work. This includes hearings with the shortlisted candidates for the post of IPU Secretary General.