A delegation from the National Assembly of Seychelles, led by the Deputy Speaker Hon. Gervais Henrie, attended a week of parliamentary meetings held at the 67th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC) hosted by the Parliament of New South Wales and Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) New South Wales Branch from the 3rd to the 8th November 2024. Hon. Henrie was accompanied by Hon. Kelly Samynadin, and Clerk to the National Assembly Mrs. Tania Isaac.
The theme of the conference was ‘Engage, empower, sustain: Charting the course for resilient democracy’ and was attended by Honourable Speakers, Members of Parliament, and Parliamentary staff representing the nine regions of the CPA, namely Africa, Asia, Australia, the British Islands and Mediterranean Region, Canada; the Caribbean, Americas and Atlantic; India, the Pacific, and Southeast Asia. Hosting the conference was incumbent CPA President, and President of the New South Wales Legislative Council, Hon. Ben Franklin MLC. During the 67th CPC, there were also several concurrent conferences and meetings including the 40th CPA Small Branches Conference, the 8th Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) Conference, meetings of the Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities (CPwD) network, the 2024 CPA General Assembly, governance meetings of the CPA Executive Committee, and the 58th Society of Clerks-at-the-Table (SoCATT) meeting.
Seychelles participated actively in a variety of meetings including the Small Branches Steering Committee, the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians, the SoCATT, and the General Assembly. Hon. Gervais Henrie acted as a facilitator for the joint conference workshop between the Small Branches and the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians entitled “Gender and National Climate Planning: moving from commitment to scalable action”. During this conference, two CPA Officer elections were held namely, a new Chairperson for the CPA Executive Committee, and the CPA Small Branches Chairperson. CPA Members elected Hon. Dr Christopher Kalila of the National Assembly of Zambia as the Chairperson of the CPA Executive Committee for a three-year term, while the Small Branches elected the Speaker of the National Assembly of Belize Hon. Valerie Woods as its new Chairperson. Another focal event was the discussion of the CPA Status Bill, the financial statements for the Association, and key governance issues during the General Assembly.
The National Assembly of Seychelles is expected to nominate a candidate to represent the CPA Africa Region on the Small Branches Steering Committee as Hon. Churchill Gill’s mandate has now concluded. The 68th CPC is set to be hosted by the CPA Barbados Branch and Parliament of Barbados, in October 2025.
