Commonwealth is here!

• Around 1,000 delegates in town for Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference and connected activities this week

The entire Common-wealth is literally here as Sri Lanka plays host to the grouping’s annual gathering of Parliamentarians - this week, giving the country an excellent opportunity to be assessed firsthand as well as lift its profile globally.

The 58th Annual Commonwealth Parlia-mentary Conference (CPC) will be ceremoniously inaugurated tomorrow by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is also the Vice Patron of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Associ-ation (CPA). Queen Elizabeth is the Patron. Last year’s conference was held in UK and comes to Asia after three years.

This year’s theme is ‘Ensuring a Relevant Commonwealth for the Future’. Whilst the official opening is at the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre, the opening plenary at the BMICH will be addressed by CPA Secretary General Dr. William F. Shija and Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma. The Chairperson of CPA is Rt. Sir Alan Hasehurst, MP, a member of the UK House of Commons.

 “The hosting of the 58th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference is a great opportunity for us to showcase Sri Lanka’s positive political and socioeconomic achievements especially since the end of the conflict,” President Mahinda Rajapaksa told Editors at a meeting with Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa and Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody on Friday.

Speaker Rajapaksa, who is also the CPA President, said around 800 Parliamentarians and around 200 Parliamentary staff and observers from the Commonwealth countries would be attending the 58th conference. A large number had already arrived over the weekend to participate in connected meetings. The 54-member Commonwealth countries account for a combined population of 2.1 billion, almost a third of the world's total.

Deputy Speaker Weerakkody who is also Chairman of the 58th CPA Organising Committee said that 16 sub-committees were appointed to ensure Sri Lanka successfully prepares and holds the conference and connected events. A bipartisan approach had been pursued in this regard.

Leader of the House MP Nimal Siripala de Silva and MP John Amaratunga representing Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe also described the hosting of the conference as a great honour for Sri Lanka.

The Government expects the visiting MPs from Commonwealth to assess Sri Lanka firsthand, thereby getting the right perspectives, whilst the event will also be a big boost for tourism.

The conference is the apex of all CPA activities held each year and the delegates representing 54 countries will be here from 175 CPA branches to discuss and share experiences pertaining to the strengthening of Parliamentary democracy throughout the Commonwealth. This will be the third time that Sri Lanka hosts the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference since 1948.

The highlights of the conference will include the Meeting of the General Assembly of the CPA, workshops on important and relevant topics, the Executive Committee Meeting, the Meeting of the CPA Working Party, the Conference of Small Branches, the Meeting of the Steering Committee of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) and Society of Clerks-at-the-Table (SOCATT) Meetings.

Branches of the CPA are currently grouped in to nine geographical regions, namely Africa, Asia, Australia, British Islands and Mediterranean, Canada, Caribbean Americas and Atlantic, India, Pacific and South East Asia. The Asia region of the CPA consists of Bangladesh, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, while Pakistan also has four Provincial Assemblies which form four branches belonging to the CPA Asia region.

On until 15 September, the CPA kicked off its 32nd Small Branches Conference yesterday with the 1st Plenary Session focusing on ‘Ensuring Adequate Parliamentary Scrutiny of Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs’. The 2nd plenary session will be held today under the theme ‘The Impact of the Informal Economy on Economic Diversification in Small States’. Its 3rd plenary session will focus on ‘Strategies to Increase Women’s Representation in Parliament in Small States,’ followed by the 4th plenary dedicated to ‘Measuring Progress and Wellbeing Beyond GDP in Small States’.

From tomorrow onwards, after the official opening, regional group meetings will be held apart from various workshops and other meetings.

Subjects of workshops are ‘Empowering Future Generation through Access to Health and Education and Vocational Training’; ‘Should the Commonwealth Establish a Commissioner for Democracy, the Rule of Law and Human Rights?’; ‘The Politics of Constitution-Making, the Role of Parliaments in Relation to the People’; ‘Ensuring Adequate Parliamentary Scrutiny of Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs’; ‘The Role of Parliamentarians in Conflict Resolution and Peace- Building’; ‘Engaging Political Parties to Improve Gender-Responsive Governance’; ‘Terrorism - The Threat to Democracy, Peace and Security’; and ‘Tackling Youth Unemployment’.

Sri Lanka has been a member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) since gaining independence in 1948. Since then, the membership of the CPA has provided many Parliamentarians and members of the Parliamentary staff of Sri Lanka invaluable opportunities for information sharing, capacity building and skills development, while also enhancing their knowledge of parliamentary practice, procedure and administration.

In fact, the platform provided by the CPA for advocates of democracy all over the world to meet and exchange views and knowledge about parliamentary democracy and to form a network of contacts under the aegis of the association has been instrumental in consolidating our own parliamentary activities from that time to date.

As an active member of the CPA, the Sri Lanka Branch has contributed towards its worthy endeavour of promoting the advancement of Parliamentary Democracy by enhancing knowledge and understanding of democratic governance, by hosting several major CPA events such as the Annual CPA Conference in 1974 and 1995 as well as several other conferences and workshops during the course of the years.