Om Birla to lead delegation in 4th South Asian Speaker's Summit in Maldives

A parliamentary delegation led by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will visit the Maldives to participate in the 4th South Asian Speaker's Summit scheduled to be held on September 1 and 2.

The summit will be held in Male and the theme of the event is "Achieving Sustainable Development Goals". It will be jointly organised by Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Maldivian Parliament.

Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh and the Upper House's Secretary-General Desh Deepak Verma are also expected to attend the summit.

"This high-level summit will build on the conclusions of the previous summits and will allow the Speakers of Parliament to continue to develop dialogue and parliamentary cooperation on achieving the SDGs," according to a statement by IPU.

"Given their legislative, oversight, representative and budgetary functions, parliaments play a key role in ensuring a sustainable future for current and future generations," it said.

The last three summits were held in the Parliaments of Bangladesh (2016), India (2017) and in Sri Lanka (2018).

Apart from India, presiding officers of parliaments of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives are also a part of the forum.