Pres Rajapakse unveils SAARC Speakers' conference in Colombo

Colombo, Mar 29 (UNI) Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse ceremonially unveiled the fourth conference of the Association of SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians here today.

Mr Rajapakse expressed confidence that the conference would ''provide an important opportunity for cooperation and collaboration among the representatives of Parliaments in the SAARC countries and strengthen the Parliamentary process.'' Pointing out that the member countries of the SAARC ''are faced with serious and urgent challenges of poverty, unemployment, income disparities and social and economic deprivation,'' President Rajapakse urged the members of the regional grouping to build 'structures' that would be mutually helpful in addressing these economic and social problems.

A top seven-member Indian Parliamentary delegation, led by the Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha, Sardar Charanjit Singh Atwal, is in Colombo to partake in the three-day deliberations being hosted in Colombo by the Parliament of Sri Lanka.

The visiting Indian delegation also consists of three Members of Parliament, Mr Prasanna Acharya, Dr K Malaisamy, and Dr Karan Singh Yadav, and Secretary General of the Lok Sabha Secretariat, Mr PDT Achary.

In his address, the Indian Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha said, ''Parliament as the supreme legislative body has the cardinal duty of ensuring the welfare of the people.'' Highlighting that the SAARC Parliamentarian's Associations ''serve to strengthen people-to people contacts and promote mutual understanding and trust among the SAARC members,'' Mr Atwal stressed the urgent need for regular interaction among the SAARC Parliamentarians to make this concept a reality.

Mr Atwal drew the attention of the conference to the 'Right to Information Act' passed by the Indian Parliament. ''Once people have access to information and start questioning activities that are not in consonance with rules and regulations, this will automatically work as a deterrent against negligence and corrupt practices,'' he added.

Commenting on the social responsibility of the Parliamentarians, Mr Atwal said, ''the legislators were well versed with the problems of the people and were better placed, to provide inputs to the Government on issues affecting the people.'' Others, who spoke at the conference included Speaker of Sri Lankan parliament WJM Lokubandara, Deputy Speaker of Bangladesh Parliament Akhtar Hamid Siddiqui, Speaker of Pakistan Parliament, Sardar Muhammad Yaqub, Speaker of Bhutanese Parliament Dasho Ugen Dorje, Speaker of Majlis of Maldives Ahmed Zahir and, Speaker of Nepalese parliament Taranath Ranabhat.

During the three day deliberations, the conference is scheduled to make presentations on three crucial areas of Parliament and Non-Government Organisations, Public Duty and Private Interests of the Members and Promotion of Inter-Parliamentary Relations among the SAARC nations.

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