New Delhi, August 1: Om Birla, the speaker of Lok Sabha, will lead a team of the Indian delegation to the Maldives for a two-day visit to attend the 4th South Asian Speaker’s Summit slated to take place on September 1-2.
According to ANI news reports, the speakers’ summit is slated to take place in Male with the theme of the event “Achieving Sustainable Development Goals”. The summit is expected to be jointly organized by the Maldivian Parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
The summit is expected to be addressed by Desh Deepak Verma, the secretary-general of the Upper House, and Indian Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Harivansh.
In an official issued by the IPU, it said: “This high-level summit will build on the conclusions of the previous summits and will allow the Speakers of Parliament to continue to develop dialogues and parliamentary cooperation on achieving the SDGs.”
The IPU statement further added, “Given their legislative, oversight, representative and budgetary functions, parliaments play a key role in ensuring a sustainable future for current and future generations.”
Besides India, the officers of parliaments of the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan will also participate in the summit.