IPU President Duarte Pacheco opens the 142nd IPU Assembly followed by a debate on the theme 'Overcoming the pandemic today, building a better tomorrow: the role of parliaments. With keynote speakers Ms. Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, now Co-Chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response and Board Chair of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health; Ms. Anuradha Gupta, Deputy CEO of Gavi, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization; and Dr. Jomo Sundaram, former chief economist at the United Nations and prominent academic at Columbia University and the International Islamic University in Malaysia. Moderation by Ms. Claire Doole.