PM Modi to inaugurate Commonwealth speakers' conference; Pakistan, Bangladesh to stay away

PM Narendra Modi (File image)

• PM Modi to inaugurate 28th CSPOC with record participation from 42 nations
• Conference on parliamentary values, AI, social media, and citizen engagement
• No representatives from Bangladesh or Pakistan expected at the event

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Thursday inaugurate the 28th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC), which is expected to witness participation from 42 of the 56 member nations.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said on Monday that the participation will be the highest ever in the history of the conference that will be attended by countries including Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Birla said there will be no representation from Bangladesh as that country's Parliament is under suspension. Pakistan is also unlikely to send any representative, officials said.

A total of 61 speakers and presiding officers are expected to attend the event to be held at the Samvidhan Sadan here from January 14 to 16.

"It is a matter of pride that the 28th CSPOC being hosted in India will see the highest participation so far," Birla said.

The CSPOC will discuss shared parliamentary values, democratic governance and institutional cooperation.

Birla said the work related to the conference has been done online and no paper has been used.

The speaker said an app has been developed to enable all aspects of conference coordination, facilitation and information dissemination.

The 27th edition of the CSPOC was hosted by Uganda in January 2024 where Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Harivansh, the leader of the Indian Parliamentary Delegation, assumed the baton as the host of the next edition of the conference.

The Lok Sabha speaker will chair the meeting of the Standing Committee of the CSPOC at the Red Fort here on Wednesday.

The CSPOC was created in 1969 as an initiative of then speaker of the House of Commons of Canada, Lucien Lamoureux. Since its inception, Canada has provided the CSPOC with a secretariat to support its activities.

The stated aims of the CSPOC are to maintain, foster and encourage impartiality and fairness on the part of speakers and presiding officers of parliaments, promote knowledge and understanding of parliamentary democracy in its various forms and develop parliamentary institutions.

The conference will have workshop sessions on topics, such as "AI in Parliament: Balancing Innovation, Oversight and Adaptation", "Social Media and its Impact on Parliamentarians", "Innovative Strategies to Enhance Public Understanding of Parliament and Citizen's Participation Beyond Voting" and "Security, Health and Wellbeing of Members of Parliament and Parliamentary Officials".