Lanka to showcase its progress during the Commonwealth parley

"The delegates will be free to see for themselves the progress throughout the country", deputy speaker of parliament Chandima Weerakkody told reporters today.

Delegates would be allowed to visit north and east to observe the progress in the former conflict zones, Weerakkody said.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa would declare open the 58th session of the CPA to be attended by 800 delegates from 54 nations.

Kamalesh Sharma, the Secretary General of the Commonwealth is due to arrive here on Sunday.

This will be the third time that Sri Lanka has hosted the CPA conference. Previously Sri Lanka hosted the CPA conference in 1974 and 1995.

The conference assumes significance due to Sri Lanka's host of the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting (CHOGM) in November 2013.