SPEAKER TO ATTEND CONFERENCE OF PRESIDING OFFICERS OF NATIONAL PARLIAMENTS

SPEAKER TO ATTEND CONFERENCE OF PRESIDING OFFICERS OF NATIONAL PARLIAMENTS

The Hon Anton Tabone, Speaker of the House of Representatives, accompanied by Hon Helen D'Amato, MP and Hon Joe Mizzi, MP, will be attending the Conference of Presiding Officers of National Parliaments which the Inter-Parliamentary Union is organising with the full support of the United Nations. The Conference will be held in the United Nations Headquarters, New York, between the 30^th August and 1^st September 2000.

This event, which will bring together Speakers of National Parliaments from throughout the world, is to take place on the eve of the Summit of Heads of State and Government. The Conference which will be presided over by Mrs Najma Heptulla, President of the IPU's Inter-Parliamentary Council, will be addressed by the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan during its opening ceremony. Special addresses will also be given by Mr Theo Ben Gurirab, President of the UNGA, Mr Mike Moore, Director General of the WTO and Mr Mark Malloch Brown, UNDP Administration and Chairperson of the United Nations Development Group.

Participants will be discussing the parliamentary vision for international cooperation at the dawn of the third millennium. Mr Speaker, the Hon Anton Tabone, will be delivering his speech on Thursday, 31^st August 2000.

The Inter Parliamentary Union, the world organisation of parliaments based in Geneva and established in 1889, currently has 138 affiliated national parliaments and 5 associated regional parliamentary assemblies. One of its objectives is to provide a parliamentary dimension to the UN and the WTO by encouraging direct participation and involvement of national parliaments and their members in the activities of these two inter-governmental organisations.