The 63rd conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) officially begins here on Sunday, with the Rohingya issue being expected to come up for discussion.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is the vice patron of the 63rd CPC, is scheduled to inaugurate the CPA annual mega event at the South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban at 10:30am.
The CPA and Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad are jointly arranging the conference with the theme: ‘Continuing to enhance the high standards of performance of parliamentarians’.
The eight-day conference 2017 began on November 1 with the meetings of different committees and sub-committees of the CPA as well as conferences of small branches before the official inauguration.
It held some closed-door meetings of Small Branches of the CPA listed countries, which have below 5 lakh population, from November 2. There are 43 small branches in the CPA.
At the meetings, the CPA Small Branches stressed the need for encouraging the youth in active politics, the role of parliament in fighting corruption and addressing the adverse impact of climate change.
The meeting also made some recommendations to address the problems of those countries.
The CPA Small Branches at their meetings also made some proposals, including taking steps to remove corruption, empowering women, ensuring transparency in the activities of top office bearers of the courtiers and taking effective steps to combat bad affects of climate change and pollution. ,
CPA media committee members Fazilatunnesa Bappy and Tanveer Imam MPs briefed reporters about the proposals at a press conference at Hotel Radisson Blu on Saturday.
The main executive committee meeting of the CPA was also held on the day at the same venue.
After the official inauguration, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmud Ali will apprise the parliamentarians of the country’s Rohingya crisis and the ways for resolving the issue at a meeting at 3:00pm.
Bangladesh will try to mobilise international community’s opinions, through the event, to mount pressure on Myanmar to take back Rohingyas taken shelter in the country in the face of persecution in their own country.
Besides, some eight workshops on a wide range of topics, including the role of parliamentarians in building stronger ties within Commonwealth, how to give voice to the youth, mechanisms for ensuring effective participation of the youth in the governance process and how CPA members can work with their own governments in ensuring that the SDG goals have a proper gender lens to ensure success in the areas of alleviating poverty and women’s empowerment, will also be held during the conference that will conclude on November 8.
Election of Chairperson of the CPA Executive Committee will also be held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) after the official inauguration of the event.
Bangladesh Speaker and CPA chairperson Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury on Friday said any member state on behalf of Bangladesh can also place the Rohingya issue in the conference.
Some 550 representatives, including parliament speakers, deputy speakers and parliament members, from nearly 144 national and provincial assemblies of 44 commonwealth countries are expected to participate in the annual conference.
The Speaker said efforts are being made so that the lawmakers across the globe could drum up public opinions against the Myanmar atrocities in their respective parliaments.
“We want to send back the fleeing Rohingyas to Myanmar. The government has also been making the diplomatic efforts to have support of the global community to resolve the crisis,” she said.
The 63rd CPC will also highlight various problems, including gender disparity and violation of the rights of the young generation. Some 50 Bangladeshi youths will raise their problems in the conference.
Dhaka is hosting the second such mega event this year after it successfully hosted the 136th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in April last.
In October 2014, the Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury was elected Chairperson of the CPA Executive Committee for a three-year term.
The CPA was founded in 1911 as the Empire Parliamentary Association and its affairs were administered by the UK branch.
