-7-

Thereafter, she gave interview to two Indian Channels wherein she

under scored the importance of NRIs of Indian Original and their
contribution to the cause of India and Indians.

Addressing to gathering which had a large number of NRI personae,

HS said: “ “You have undoubtedly your loyalties to the country in
which you have settled. It has offered so much to you and to which
you have offered given so much. At the same time, you have not
given up on the country of your origin your concerns for that country
called India to which you remain tied with an umbilical chord remains.
I do see that every year that we celebrate the Bharatiya Pravasi
Divas all of you come in large numbers to make efforts to do things in
India. Once again, I want to say that India is very proud oif our
diaspora.”

Describing Parliamentary diplomacy as a very important instrument of

inclusive dialogue and comprehensive engagement, Hon’ble Speaker
said, “ Over the years, the world has realized the futility of war as a
means of diplomacy, and now there is a much greater degree of
awareness that diplomacy can bring peace, amity and understanding
and in this exercise, Parliamentary diplomacy is poised to play an
important role”.

In her opinion, “Parliamentary diplomacy can take place broadly at

two levels- at the multilateral level at the inter Parliamentary
Conferences like the IPU and the CPA and at the bilateral level, when
exchange of Parliamentary delegations take place.”
 -8-
Explaining the importance of bilateral talks and debates, HS said that
“Parliamentary delegations are basically good-will visits and they are
not mandated with diplomatic assignment. Nevertheless, they
prepare the ground work for meeting at higher level. These visits
enhance ties with other countries and facilitate sharing of ideas and
experiences. The exchange of Parliamentary delegations is very
much in keeping with the traditional relations formed among
Parliaments on the basis of reciprocal courtesy which takes the form
of invitation and visits. Now it is an established practice that
Speakers visit other Parliaments and countries accompanied by a
delegation of Parliamentarians representing the cross section of the
political spectrum.”

HS also disclosed that “in our Parliament we have formed 67 such

friendship groups so far, which are under constitution. These
Friendship Groups provide an ideal forum to members to exchange
views on issues of mutual and bilateral interest. It is also customary
on part of the Presiding Officers to meet the exchange views with
Ambassadors and High Commissions when they call on the Presiding
Officers. All these institutional mechanisms, customs and
conventions have been found to be immediately useful tools of
Parliamentary diplomacy”.

HS speech was followed by a brief question answer session with the

media. She gave interviews to two Indian Television Channels
including ANI and Sahara TV and spoke on the importance of
Parliamentary Democracy and the importance of change of thoughts
among Members of International Institutions on a variety of issues
facing mankind.

At 1900 hrs., HS attended the dinner hosted by Shri Prabhu Dayal,

Consul General of India, New York in honour of HS.

In her thanksgiving speech, HS profusely lauded the hosts for

hosting the delegation and “Complimented’ them and the officials
in Indian Consulate for the excellent work that they were doing for
our country sitting in New York.

On 15th November, 2009 at 1900 hrs, HS attended a meeting at

Room No.35 R in The Waldorf Towers Hotel. Shri P.D.T. Achary,
Hon’ble Secretary General, Lok Sabha, Shri H.S. Puri,
Ambassador & Permanent Representative, Shri M.S. Puri,
Ambassador & Deputy Permanent Representative, Dr. Anupam
Ray, Counsellor & HOC, PMI, New York, Shri Arindam Bagchi,
Counsellor, Shri Vinod Jacob, First Secretary, Shri D.N. Pandey,
Shri Cyril John and Shri K.P. Balayn also attended the meeting.

At 2000 hrs., Hon’ble Speaker held discussions with Dr. Thoeo

Ben Gurirab, President of IPU at residence of Permanent
Representative at Triumph Towers, First Avenue, New York.

This was followed by dinner in honour of Hon’ble Speaker, Lok

Sabha by Shri H.S. Puri, Permanent Representative. Among the
prominent people who were present on the occasion included:
i) Dr. Thoeo Ben Gurirab, President of IPU & Mrs. Joan Guriab
ii) H.E. Mr. Kaire Munionganda Mbuende, PR of Namibia
iii) Amb Anda Filip, Permanent Observer of IPU and Mrs. Traian
Filip, Dy. PR, New York

At 2210 hrs., HS arrived at the Hotel for night stay.

On 16th November at 0945 hrs., HS arrived at UN building and

attended second Meeting of the Preparatory Committee on the
Third World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments at Committee
Room 9, United Nations Building. This meeting was also attended
by the Presiding Officers of National Parliaments:-

a) Albania
b) Australia
c) Austria
d) Brazil
e) China
f) Egypt
g) Finland
h) France
i) Germany
j) Ghana
k) India
l) Indonesia
m) Jordan
n) Kazakhstan
o) Mexico
p) Rwanda
q) Spain
r) South Africa
s) Switzerland
t) Tanzania

Agenda of the meeting were:-

1. Opening of the proceedings and adoption of the agenda

2. Follow-up to the First Meeting of the Preparatory
Committee
3. Parliaments and democracy in the twenty-first century

In her intervention on “Priorities before the UN, status of UN

Reform” Hon’ble Speaker said that while she had tremendous faith
in this unique institution, “some of the structures of the United
Nations have become outdated and indeed need to be
restructured”.

On the present status of Security Council, she added, “ The

Security Council needs to be expanded keeping invew the existing
reality of today. The Permanent Membership, the Non-Permanent
Membership needs to be expanded. There has to be a re-look
and also there has to be more accountability and transparency in
the matter of functioning. In her considered opinion, the core
objective of the United Nations is eradication of poverty,
eradication of hunger, Millennium Development Goals and other
development goals have to be implemented and implemented as
per the target date and to be able to do that, we have to ensure
that United Nation’s functioning and method of working becomes
more effective and efficient.”
 -12-
HS also underscored an urgent need for reform of governance,
development goals and these also have to be fashioned according
to the country for which these have to be used for empowerment
of women to arrest domestic violence and other atrocities on
women. “The Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen is to
take place. It is very important Conference and we hope that all
the countries together will take some collaborative action to ensure
that there are responsibilities fixed in common, in general also
differentiated according to outcomes. India is not responsible for
climate change but I would like to assure that we will be a part of
its solution.”

In her intervention on Global economic and financial crises and

democratic accountability, Hon’ble Speaker noted that it was
necessary to have some sort of reform in the institutions and there
should be more transparency as most of the member countries are
not involved in specially the developing countries in decision
making and they should be involved and there should be reforms.

HS also added, “there are independent bodies yet whom the

process of this nature and this magnitude affects the world, these
institutions and world banks have to come forward and accept the
responsibility of doing something about it and It cannot be said that
they are independent and not responsible but is the central to the
crisis is job loss specially in developing countries, specially those
living below poverty line and there is too much of unemployment
and suffering and we have to address that and we have to address
it fast.”
In her opinion, one way of handling financial crisis and to prevent
the collapse of the export market was to do something in the
domestic market to expand the domestic market and the basic
option would be to expand investments and investment in
infrastructure and World Bank can come forward and finance that
investment in domestic market in infrastructure.

At 1610 hrs, Hon’ble Speaker arrived at Waldorf Astoria Hotel,

New York and at 1900 hrs HS had a briefing meeting with
delegation Members in Room No.35. Apart from Shri H.S. Puri,
Ambassador and Permanent Representative Dr. Anupam Ray,
Counsellor and HOC, Shri Vinod Jacob, First Secretary were also
present.

On 17th November, 2009, at 0910 hrs, HS arrived at UN Building

and she called on Speaker Sisulu of South Africal at Indonesian
Lounge.

Intervening on the debate on strengthening the relationship

between Parliaments, IPU and UN, Hon’ble Speaker remarked
that the need of the hour was to have more faithful and meaningful
debate and discussions at Inter-Parliamentary Conferences like
IPU and CPA. IPU was the world’s oldest International
Organizations formed even prior to the formation of UN. Over the
years, the IPU had evolved itself from a largely European
Organization to a Universal Forum in which 152 of the World’s
Legislative Assemblies of Sovereign States from Albania to
Zimbabwe are represented. “The IPU within contours and
parameters of its Constitution and objective, offers great scope to
the Parliamentarians to highlight the global challenges facing the
World”, said Hon’ble Speaker.

Vouching for the great potential of IPU as a platform to promote

and facilitate Parliamentary democracy, both bilaterally and
multilaterally, Hon’ble Speaker recounted her own experience at
the 121st Assembly of IPU held in Geneva in Sept. 2009 which
provided an excellent opportunity to share and exchange views
on divergent issues and concerns and “provide the Indian
perspective to the wider Parliamentary fraternity and to
sensitize them on India’s approach and view points on various
issues.”

Recalling India’s association with Common Wealth Parliamentary

Association (CPA) as a platform not only to advance the values
and ideals of Parliamentary democracy but also to share mutual
experience and ideas among member countries, Hon’ble Speaker
also explained how she had led an Indian Parliamentary
Delegation to the 55th CPA Conference held in Arusha in Tanzania
from 29th Sept. to 5th October, 2009 where many subjects like
global financial crises, terrorism, information society, domestic
violence and climate change were discussed.
HS and her delegation departed from JFK Airport at 1600 hrs by
Air India Flight AI102 for New Delhi.