Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference
The CPA’s annual Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference brings together over 400 leading Commonwealth Parliamentarians and about 100 parliamentary officials.
The Conference is an opportunity for them to interact with each other and with outside expert speakers in discussions to broaden their understanding of contemporary issues, the Commonwealth and parliamentary democracy. In order to better inform Parliamentarians of the latest developments in governance and parliamentary practice, the Conference exposes Members to the diversity of views and experiences on the growing range of global economic and social policy issues which faces their Legislatures.
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference was held on a biennial basis from 1948 to 1959, and has been organized annually since 1961.In recent years, the CPA has evolved the format of the Conference to make it more suited to the need of today’s Members. As a result, the Conference format now is based on the following:
A broad Conference theme,
Under the Conference theme, a range of subjects to provide sufficient opportunity to all Members to discuss key issues relevant to their Parliaments,
Workshops allowing Members to debate subjects in greater depth,
A plenary session on a gender-related subject,
A new subject at the final plenary, and
Inviting experts from different international organizations to act as lead speakers.
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