DHAKA, Oct 7: Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia on Tuesday inaugurated the 49th conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), calling upon all concerned to reduce the gap between the developed and developing nations for ensuring world peace, stability and progress.

“This is necessary so that this disparity may be reduced and hopes instilled for equitable development of the human race, and it is high time that we move in that direction to ensure peace stability and progress,” Khaleda who is also the vice-patron of the conference said in her inaugural speech at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre.

She hoped that the gathering of parliamentarians would address those issues and suggest effective solutions to tackle various problems that the world is facing now at the conference whose theme is “Partnership for Global Peace and Prosperity”.

Over 500 lawmakers and parliament officials from Africa, Asia and Pacific are attending the conference that Bangladesh hosts for the first time. The host nation’s main opposition party, Awami League, has been abstaining from the conference over domestic political differences between the government and the opposition.

Speaker of Bangladesh’s Jatiya Sangsad Jamiruddin Sircar, who is president of the 49th CPA conference, presided over the inaugural session. He urged the Commonwealth parliamentarians to provide a sense of direction to the international community against aggression and war.