New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS) Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is leading an Indian Parliamentary delegation to attend the 68th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC) in Bridgetown, Barbados, an official said on Sunday.

The Lok Sabha Speaker is scheduled to address the General Assembly of the October 5 to 12 event on the topic ‘The Commonwealth – A Global Partner’, the official said in a statement.

During the conference, seven workshops will be held on various subjects. The Speaker would be chairing the Workshop on ‘Leveraging Technology: Enhancing Democracy through Digital Transformations and Tackling the Digital Divide’, said the statement.

The Indian delegation includes Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Harivansh Narayan Singh; MP (Lok Sabha) and CPA Executive Committee Member Anurag Sharma; MP (Lok Sabha) and CWP Steering Committee Member Dr D. Purandeswari; MP (Lok Sabha) Dr K. Sudhakar; MP (Rajya Sabha) Rekha Sharma; MP (Rajya Sabha) Dr Ajeet Madhavrao Gopchade; Secretary General, Lok Sabha Utpal Kumar Singh and Secretary General, Rajya Sabha P.C. Mody.

This annual conference will also be attended by 36 Presiding Officers and 16 Secretaries from 24 State/UT Legislatures from across India who are also members of CPA.

The Executive Committee meeting of CPA will be held during the Conference, which will be attended by Anurag Sharma, MP (Lok Sabha), as the Treasurer of CPA, along with Bishwajit Daimary, Speaker, Assam Legislative Assembly, who is one of the Regional Representatives in the CPA Executive Committee from the Indian Region.

​Dr D. Purandeswari, MP (Lok Sabha), would be attending the meeting of the ‘Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) Steering Committee’.

She will also be a panellist at the CWP Conference session on the topic ‘Good Practices and Strategies to Realising Gender-Sensitive Parliaments across the Commonwealth’.

​Other members of the delegation, including Presiding Officers from State/UT Legislatures, will also participate in various Workshops and the General Assembly of the Conference.

​During this visit, Birla will also hold bilateral meetings and interact with his counterparts from other Commonwealth countries to discuss matters of mutual interest and parliamentary cooperation.

The Speaker is also expected to meet with the leadership of Barbados and interact with members of the Indian diaspora during his stay in Barbados, said the statement.

–IANS

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