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Terry Lister to lead delegation to Commonwealth conference

Transport Minister Terry Lister is to share his thoughts on the contribution of non-Bermudians to the Island as he gives a presentation on migration at the Commonwealth Parliament Conference in London.Mr Lister, a one-time Home Affairs Minister, will be discussion leader at a workshop titled ‘Commonwealth Initiative in Handling Migration Issues’.Shortly before flying out to the UK yesterday, he told The Royal Gazette he would be speaking about the role expats play taking jobs on the Island, and the way they develop as people before returning to their home countries.The Sandys South MP will be joined by Progressive Labour Party MP Darius Tucker and Independent Senator Joan Dillas-Wright for the 57th annual conference; Clerk to the Legislature Shernette Wolffe is attending as secretary.The event marks 100 years since the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association was founded as the Empire Parliamentary Association at a July 1911 meeting at Westminster of British Parliamentarians and members from five dominion parliaments.It will be attended by members from nearly 170 parliaments and legislatures in the nations, states, provinces and territories of the Commonwealth.Malaysia’s Minister of Rural and Regional Development Dato’ Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, who chairs the CPA executive committee, said in a statement: “Commonwealth parliamentarians today all stand as equal partners with a shared commitment to the common goal of advancing parliamentary democracy through the development and sharing of best practices at this conference, the CPA’s other meetings and through our constant and now instant communications throughout every year.“Parliamentary democracy is all about evolving new processes to meet the challenge of change through engaging all our people in the development and implementation of solutions shared at CPA forums.”Other topics to be discussed are ‘Women as Agents of Change in Small Societies’, ‘Countering Threats to the Stability of Small Democracies: Piracy, Drug Trafficking, Terrorism’ and ‘Strengthening Democracies in Small States: Youth Leadership Training, Citizen Involvement and Parliamentary Reform’.The conference started yesterday and continues until next Thursday.Useful websites: www.cpahq.org, www.plp.bm