US House Speaker calls on Somnath Chatterjee

New Delhi, Apr 12 (UNI) US House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert today called on Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who suggested the formation of India-US Parliamentary Friendship Groups.

Leading a delegation of Congressmen, Mr Hastert responded positively to the suggestion, which could become a reality soon to strengthen interaction between law-makers of the two countries.

''In democracy, dialogue is the best method to resolve the differences. There is no problem in the world that cannot be solved through dialogue,'' Mr Chatterjee told the US delegation, the first-ever to India led by the US House Speaker.

To Mr Chatterjee's comment that the people's views were echoed in Parliament through the representatives of 37 parties, the visiting Speaker responded in a lighter vein that running a House with two parties (Republican and Democratic parties) gives him enough idea as to how comfortable it is to preside over a House with 37 parties.

Mr Chatterjee regretted that the proceedings of the Parliamentary Committees are not open to the media as they are in the US.

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