As the Speaker of the host country’s parliament, Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury will preside over the 136th assembly of Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (IPU) to be held here from April 1 to 5 next.
The Jatiya Sangsad and the IPU will jointly arrange the 136th IPU Assembly with theme of ‘Redressing Inequalities: Delivering on Dignity and Well-Being for all’, said a Parliament Secretariat handout on Saturday.
Some 15,000 delegates, including Speakers, Deputy Speakers and Members of Parliaments from 131 IPU member countries, are expected to joint the assembly to be held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the mega event at 7:30pm on April 1 at the Parliament’s South Plaza. Ahead of the assembly, a press conference will be held at the media centre of Bangabandhu International Conference Centre at 9am on March 31. Dr Shirin Sharmin, IPU President Saber Hossain Chowdhury and IPU Secretary Martin Chungong will address the conference.
Besides, the meetings of 136th IPU Assembly Executive Committee and some side-events will be held in the city from March 29. Bangladesh lawmaker Saber Hossain Chowdhury was elected the IPU President in October 2014, a few days after Dr Shirin had been elected the Chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s Executive Committee. Saber is the first Bangladeshi president of the IPU in the organisation’s 128-year history since its inception in 1889.
