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26TH COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE, ZAMBIA
1. The 26th Annual Conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association took place in Lusaka, Zambia, from 21 September to 4 October 1980. It was preceded by a series of tours arranged, as is customary, to enable delegates to see something of their host country.
Attendance
2. The UK delegation was led by Mr Neil Marten, Minister of State, FCO, and Minister for Overseas Development. The deputy leader was Mr Laurie Pavitt MP, Labour Member for Brent, South. A complete list of the British delegation is attached at Annex A. Additionally Mr James Johnson MP was in Lusaka in his capacity of Treasurer of the CPA.
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There were also, as is usual, delegates from the parliaments of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man, while from the Dependent Territories there were representatives from: Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Hong Kong and Turks and Caicos. Branches represented for the first time for many years were Bangladesh, Ghana, Nigeria and Swaziland. Two notable absentees were Tanzania (because of elections) and Guyana. In all, there were some 180 delegates and 38 secretaries to delegations from 45 countries and 93 branches. The Commonwealth Secretariat was represented by its Secretary-General, and the International Association of French Language Parliaments was represented by its Political Secretary-General, M. Xavier Deniau.
Preliminaries
4. Because of preoccupations elsewhere Mr Ramphal, Secretary- General of the Commonwealth Secretariat, addressed delegates at Mulungushi Hall before the Conference had been officially opened, on 20 September. He paid due tribute to the work of the Common- wealth in the bringing of Zimbabwe to independence. Most of his speech, however, was devoted to the North/South Dialogue and, in particular, the Brandt Report. In questions afterwards he criticised the role Britain (and the USA and Germany) had played in the recent Special Session of the Global Negotiations in New York.
5. Following the delegates' pre-conference tours, the Conference proper started on Saturday 27 September, and was opened by President Kaunda, who, in welcoming the delegates, led the other Zambians present, as is evidently his custom, most impressively in a song which encourages all Zambians to "pull together" (Pamodzi). This was followed by a speech of welcome.
The Debates
6. Plenary sessions were held in the very large main chamber of Mulungushi Hall; owing to very poor accoustics, and a wide variation of accented English, much of what was said was lost to the general audience - who did not have headphones. It is for this reason that this report of the debates has had to be delayed, awaiting the publication of speech summaries by the CPA.
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