SAARC Parliamentarians Meet in Simla on Saturday

30 May 2007: Dhaka

Parliamentarians belonging to all the parties from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries will hold a two-day conference in Simla, India, on June 2-3, reports BSS.

Indian Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee will inaugurate the conference while External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will deliver the keynote speech, said a South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) press release in the city Tuesday.

Yashwant Sinha, a former Indian External Affairs Minister, will deliver the closing speech.Leading members of parliament, apart from journalists, from the region will take part in the discussions.

The initiative for bringing together the elected representatives from South Asia has been taken by SAFMA, the SAARC-recognised organisation of journalists which, apart from addressing the problems faced by them, works for strengthening regional cooperation and backs steps seeking to reduce tensions and conflicts.

Keeping in mind the vision of a South Asian Parliament, the conference will deliberate on steps to be taken for continuous contacts among the parliamentarians, either through a forum or any other self-sustaining mechanism.

This will be the second meeting of its type -- the first was held nearly two years ago at Bhurban, Pakistan. The theme of the coming meeting is "Towards South Asian Unity".

It will also commemorate the first War of Indepen-dence in India in 1857, on its 150th anniversary. Simla has been chosen as the venue because of its association with the parleys on the transfer of power with the British rulers in the forties of last century.

In all, 87 parliamentarians have accepted SAFMA's invitation. The numerical break-up form each country will be as follows: India 24, Pakistan 23, Bangladesh 12 ( former MPs), Nepal 8, Sri Lanka 6, Bhutan 2, Maldives 4 and Afghanistan 8.

The delegations of two countries include their speakers -- Sri Lanka's WJ Lokubandara and Nepal's Subhash Chandra Nemwang.

Link: Financial Express (Dhaka)