South Africa: Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference opens in Cape Town

Hosted by the South African Parliament and the South African branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), the event will take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre until September 19. The theme is “Strengthening International Law and Parliamentary Democracy in a Changing Global Order: Commonwealth Leadership.”

The agenda includes the CPA General Assembly and its general debate, meetings of the executive committee, as well as several workshops on parliamentary operations and governance challenges. Assembly presidents, parliamentarians, administrative officials, and governance specialists are participating in the discussions.

Several specialized meetings are also scheduled, including the 42nd conference of the CPA small branches, the 10th conference of Commonwealth women parliamentarians, meetings of the network of parliamentarians with disabilities, and the 60th conference of the Society of Clerks-at-the-Table.

The Speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya, Moses Wetang’ula, arrived in Cape Town ahead of the opening and expressed his intention to engage in discussions on emerging technologies and enhancing parliamentary work. Delegations from several other Commonwealth countries have also joined South Africa for the meeting.

The conference comes as Pretoria emphasizes its role in multilateral forums. On September 10, Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted multilateral reform at the BRICS summit in New Delhi.