Commonwealth Parliamentarians to discuss global issues

New Delhi, Sep 22 (UNI) Commonwealth Parliamentarians will come together here tomorrow for a week-long Conference to discuss wide-ranging issues, including the effects of globalisation on small countries, climate change and global warming, and regulating immigration and human trafficking.

The 53rd Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Conference, being hosted by Parliament of India, will be inaugurated by President Pratibha Singh Patil on September 25.

The Conference will be preceded by a two-day Conference of Small Countries of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) which will be inaugurated by Vice President Mohammed Hamid Ansari here tomorrow.

Mr Ansari will release a special Commemorative Stamp, brought out by the Department of Posts, to mark the 53rd Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, West Bengal Assembly Speaker and CPA Executive Committee Chairman Hashim Abdul Halim and CPA Secretary General Dr William F Shija will attend tomorrow's inauguration.

This is for the fourth time that India is hosting the CPA Conference. Earlier, CPA Conferences were held in New Delhi in 1957, 1975 and in 1991.

The main theme of the Conference this year is "Delivering Democracy and Sustainable Development." Ms Patil will release a Commemorative Souvenir, brought out by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, to mark the 53rd CPA Conference.

The CPA introduced the Small Countries Conference in 1981 on the requests from the branches in small countries for a forum to discuss their own special problems. This grouping comprises countries having a population of less than 400,000.

The Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference would conclude on September 30.

Speaker Chatterjee will inaugurate the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians(CWP) Conference on Septmber 24.

The CWP Conference, spread over two sessions, will discuss: Strategies to Overcome Barriers Preventing Women's Equal Participation in Decision-Making; and Role of Women Parliamentarians in dealing with HIV/AIDS and Poverty Reduction.

UNI