New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, who embarks on a four-day visit to Bhutan on Wednesday, will address the joint session of the Bhutanese Parliament on Friday and launch a Friendship Group comprising MPs for
Bhutan, the first such initiative by Indian Parliament.
The Speaker said that Parliament would be launching 60
Friendship Groups of Parliamentarians in the near future to
promote dialogue between democracies.
Kumar will be the first Lok Sabha Speaker to address a
joint sitting of the Bhutanese Parliament. Bhutan embraced
democracy when elections were first held in the tiny Himalayan
nation in March 2008.
This transition to Constitutional Monarchy was led by the
fourth King Jigme Singye Wangchuck.
The Speaker will be accompanied by a delegation
comprising Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj
(BJP), Lok Sabha MPs Girija Vyas (Congress) and Vishwa Mohan Kumar
(JDU), Rajya Sabha members Pyarimohan Mohapatra (BJD) and
Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patil (NCP) and senior Parliament officials.
They will meet Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel
Wangchuck, Prime Minister Jigme Thinley, National Assembly
Speaker Tshogton Jigme Tshultim and other senior leaders.
"During my visit, we will be launching the first ever
Friendship Group of Parliamentarians for Bhutan," Kumar told
reporters here.
She said Indian Parliament will launch 60 such friendship
groups to promote dialogue among several nations.
The next Friendship Group will be for Hungary, Kumar
said.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, May 26, 2010, 09:58