Dhaka hosts IPU meet on Apr 1-5
The upcoming Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) conference in Dhaka offers Bangladesh immense scope for tapping the benefits of parliamentary diplomacy to boost international trade and attract more foreign investment, said IPU President Saber Hossain Chowdhury yesterday.
“We will have delegates of 140 countries getting together, it is a unique opportunity to showcase that Bangladesh is a country of possibilities and vibrant economy,” he said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Star four days ahead of the conference.
About parliamentary diplomacy, the IPU president said it has a lot of advantage. Many people call it soft diplomacy. It strengthens people-to-people contact among countries and supplement conventional diplomacy.
“In Bangladesh, the parliamentary diplomacy remains completely untapped. Our MPs can use the conference to maintain networking with their counterparts of other countries to begin parliamentary diplomacy,” said Saber, also a lawmaker, who was elected president of IPU in 2014.
Bangladesh parliament is hosting the 136th assembly of IPU, a global organisation of parliaments, from April 1 to April 5. This will be the largest ever conference held in Bangladesh since its independence.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the conference on April 1 at the South Plaza of Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.
Founded in 1889, the IPU is known as the focal point for worldwide parliamentary dialogue, and it works to establish democracy, peace and co-operation among people.
It also works to strengthen parliaments. Currently, it has 170 members and 11 associate members.
Bangladesh got the membership in 1972, but its membership was stripped off thrice for martial law and emergency regimes.
In 2003, Bangladesh parliament hosted a conference of the 54-member Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA). It is consisted of only commonwealth countries' national and state parliaments.
Around 1,500 delegates of 130 national parliaments of the same number of sovereign states will join the upcoming IPU conference which will focus on democracy, security and ways to redress inequality.
“Speakers and Deputy Speakers will lead a number of delegations. Some former ministers are among the participants. Those who are MPs will be ministers in future. So, our MPs can develop a good network with them during the conference,” Saber said.
For example, he said, in Latin and South America, Bangladesh has missions only in Brazil and Mexico. But MPs of many Latin and South American countries will join the conference.
“If our parliamentarians develop network with MPs of those countries, it will help our country maintain good relations with those countries.”
Bangladesh can get support on many international issues if its lawmakers maintain network with parliamentarians of other countries, he said.
For this, Saber suggested, a core number of MPs and strategic partners should be identified and parliamentary friendship groups should be formed to maintain network with MPs of other parliaments.
He spoke for strengthening parliament as he said a stronger parliament and a better democracy are required for achieving sustainable development goals. “Parliament should not be viewed as an extension of the government.”
Asked about the debate on the priority to development over democracy, Saber said governance is fundamental to development. Development will not be sustainable if there is a lack of governance.
“Development is accelerated and made sustainable by governance. There is no alternative to democracy, governance and fundamental rights.”
For example, he said, if Dhaka city corporation carries out massive development work spending thousands of crores of taka and if quality of its service is not improved and people do not get good service, this work will have no value to them.
“People must be impressed and people must own the development. Governance is an absolute pre-requisite in case of ownership. Development will not be sustainable if it does not have people's support,” he noted.
“Those who say development is first, not democracy, we tell them that this development will not sustain. Democracy and governance are the integral parts of development, he said, adding: “This is why IPU has been focusing on stronger parliament and better democracy.”
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