Assam to host Commonwealth Parliamentary Association mid-year executive committee meeting

CPA meeting to be held in India for the first time

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The mid-year executive committee meeting of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) will be held for the first time in India, that too in Guwahati.

CPA is composed of branches formed in parliaments and legislatures in Commonwealth countries which subscribe to parliamentary democracy. The aims of the CPA are to promote knowledge and understanding about parliamentary democracy, especially good governance, transparency and accountability and respect for the rule of law, and individual rights and freedoms.

Assam Legislative Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary, while addressing a press conference in the city on Tuesday, informed that the CPA mid-year executive committee meeting would be hosted by the CPA Assam State Branch, led by the Assam Legislative Assembly Secretariat. Daimary said, "CPA is a 100-year old organization. It is a matter of honour that the CPA mid-year executive committee meeting will be held for the first time in India, in Guwahati. The meeting will be held for two days – on April 9 and April 10. Representatives from 53 Commonwealth countries and nine regions will participate in the meeting. Already foreign delegates have started coming. Yesterday delegates from Japan arrived and by tonight delegates from United Kingdom are expected to arrive.

"The meeting will basically focus on how to make the parliamentary democratic system more democratic. Paliamentary practices will be discussed. If any country has good parliamentary practices, we will discuss those and see if other countries can also follow these practices."

The meeting will be inaugurated on April 9 by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in the presence of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. The delegates and representatives will be exposed to Assam's culture, with special focus on tea tourism, handloom tourism and wildlife tourism. They will be taken for tour to Borengajuli and Panery Tea Garden, Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary and Sualkuchi village.

Daimary further said that after conclusion of the CPA mid-year executive committee meeting, the mid-term executive meeting of the CPA India region would be held from April 11 to April 12, also in Guwahati. In this meeting, several state speakers and deputy speakers, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariat officials, MLAs and MPs of various states will take part. The meeting will be inaugurated by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla while the Assam Governor will be present in the closing function. The delegates will also be introduced to Assam's tea tourism, handloom tourism and wildlife tourism, besides a visit to the Kamakhya Temple.

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