Commonwealth Parliamentary Association:

Lanka unanimously elected Asia Region Chairman

The 55th Annual General Conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association held from September 28 to October 6 in Arusha, Tanzania, unanimously elected Sri Lanka for the Chairmanship of the Asian Region.

The Chairmanship of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference is changed once in three years and Pakistan was functioning as the Chairman of this Association during the recent past. Approximately 850 Parliamentary representatives from 53 countries participated.

The focus of this Conference was on violence against women, youth leadership, the future of democracy and the prevention of terrorism.

Sri Lanka was represented by a delegation headed by Power and Energy Minister John Seneviratne and Deputy Speaker Priyankara Jayaratne, Housing and Common Infrastructure Facilities Minister Ferial Ashraff, Edward Gunasekera MP, Namal Karunaratne and Samansiri Herath were the other members of this delegation.