Shirin, Saber to be accorded reception

Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury and lawmaker Saber Hossain Chowdhury will be accorded a reception tomorrow by the seven whips of Bangladesh Parliament, including the chief whip, for being elected chairperson and president of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) respectively. 

Lawmakers, political leaders, officials and eminent professionals are scheduled to attend the reception at the South Plaza of Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the weekly cabinet meeting yesterday applauded their victory.

Shirin was elected CPA's first-ever Bangladeshi chairperson recently, defeating her lone rival Juliana O'Connor-Connoly, speaker of the legislative assembly of Cayman Islands, by three votes.

Saber became IPU president on Thursday defeating Speaker of Australia's House of Representatives Bronwyn Bishop by 74 votes, the highest-ever vote margin, bagging 169 votes.