Presiding officers from 42 Parliaments of the Commonwealth will attend the five-day Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC) that is being hosted by India for the third time in 41 years.
Announcing this here on Monday, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar said the conference would be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the capital on Tuesday. Besides presiding officers from Parliaments of the Commonwealth, the conference will be attended by presiding officers of legislatures across the country.
Though officially the conference begins on Tuesday, Ms. Kumar chaired the meeting of the Standing Committee of CSPOC on Monday. At the conference, there will be detailed deliberations on “The Speaker’s Role as a Mediator,” ‘The Use of Technology in the Parliamentary Context,’ and ‘The Role of Speaker in the Administration of Parliament.’
Asked if a declaration would be issued at the end of the conference, the Speaker answered in the negative; adding that there was no provision for coming out with a declaration. Created in 1969, the CSPOC has no formal affiliation with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Commonwealth Secretariat or the Commonwealth Heads of Government.
