NEW DELHI, Sept 21: Over 600 delegates from 56 Commonwealth countries will participate in the 53rd Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference commencing here from Sept 23 at the Vigyan Bhawan.

Pakistani parliamentarians have started reaching the Indian capital. Members of National Assembly, Kashmala Tariq and Mehreen Raja, and Balochistan Assembly Speaker Jamal Shah Kakar have already arrived here while other parliamentarians are expected to reach here during the next couple of days.

More than 600 delegates, three international organisations, 134 branches, including 30 Indian branches of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, will attend the conference. The Lok Sabha is hosting the conference.

Somnath Chatterjee, Speaker of the Lok Sabha and President of the Commonwealth Parliamentarians Association, will inaugurate the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) Conference on September 24.

The conference will have plenary sessions, including strategies to overcome barriers preventing women’s equal participation in decision making.—APP