Nearly 20 National Assemblies attending the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Conference taking place in Arusha, Tanzania

From Marc Nkwame in Arusha

Tanzania is hosting the 53^rd Africa Regional Conference for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, an event which is taking place in the Northern City of Arusha.

The CPA African Region event runs for six days from 30 September to 5 October 2024.

Vice President of Tanzania, Dr Philip Isidori Mpango officially opens the CPA Conference, on Thursday, October 3, 2024.

This Pan African National Assemblies gathering is being attended by nearly 300 participants from around the continent.

The Assistant Regional Secretary of CPA, Eliufoo Daniel Ukhotya said the Arusha Conference features three events involving the Parliamentary Association organs.

This includes the Africa Regional Conference workshops, CPA Africa Region Executive Committee meetings and the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) Africa Regional Conference.

“It should be noted that Tanzania previously hosted another CPA Regional Conference which took place in Zanzibar, in 2019,” said Ukhotya while addressing the media at the Gran Melia Hotel in Arusha.

The conference addresses matter of interest for the Region includes Climate Change, Food Insecurity and Youth Employment.

The 53^rd CPA Africa Regional Conference has gathered delegates from 14 out of the 19 CPA member Parliaments. Their delegations are led by 10 Speakers of respective National Assemblies.

There will be three Deputy Parliamentary Speakers representing other countries at the meeting.

In total, the African CPA Regional Conference has attracted more than 280 participants.

Tanzanian Head of State, President Samia Suluhu Hassan was initially supposed to grace the CPA event but will now be represented by the Vice President instead.

Since the year 2003, Tanzania has been hosting the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s Africa Regional Secretariat at the National Assembly premises in Dodoma. Previously the CPA was headquartered in Zimbabwe before the country was thrown out of the fold.

Founded in 1911 the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) is one of the oldest established Commonwealth organisations.

In Africa it consists of 19 National Assemblies and 46 Provincial or County Parliaments.

The CPA is an officially Accredited and Associated Commonwealth organisation.

While in the past the association covered mostly National Assemblies of Anglophonic countries, today Rwanda, a Francophone and Mozambique which was ruled by the Portuguese have joined the CPA as members.

The Commonwealth is supported by a network of more than 70 such accredited organisations and nine Associated Organisations all working in specialist areas from education to urban planning.

As an Associated organisation, the CPA is formally recognised as a part of the Commonwealth family and is therefore committed to the values and principles of the Commonwealth, as written in the Commonwealth Charter.