We launched the South Asian Parliamentarians Forum with only three parliamentarians. They were from Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.  The initiative thus started has blossomed into a Global Parliamentarians Forum (GPFE) with representation from over 50 countries.  Today over 300 parliamentarians from all corners of the globe have come together as members demonstrating their commitment and solidarity to promote development evaluation as a means of strengthening accountability and improving development performance in our respective countries.  As parliamentarians our aim is not only to achieve development results but also to enhance the quality of development processes by which results are achieved.  

The GPFE will continue its efforts to build stronger foundations for knowledge through the deliberations of this forum. The forum will examine what we have learnt from national evaluation systems and national evaluation capacity development.  It will deliberate on the role of parliament in using evaluation in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.  The deliberations I am sure will enable the GPFE to catalyze governments’ actions towards realizing the 2030 agenda and thereby achieving higher levels of well-being for the people. I invite everyone to join hands with GPFE for this important journey.