Mohamed Aslam, Speaker of the People’s Majlis has taken part in the 27th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth.

Speaker Aslam took part in the 27th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth as part of his ongoing official visit to Kampala, Uganda, which he began on January 1.

The conference was held from January 3 – 6.

The parliament speaker was accompanied by a delegation of officials during the conference.

Discussions at the conference revolved around the environment, climate change and the role of parliament relating to these issues. Speaker Aslam made an intervention and gave a speech during these discussions.

The Maldivian parliament speaker shed light on the ground environmental situation in the Maldives and reiterated the fact that Maldives is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, especially due to the rising sea level.

He also highlighted the steps taken at a national level to combat climate change and the deteriorating environment as well as the challenges surfaced in this work.

Shedding light on the national ambition of the government of Maldives to reach net zero by 2030, Speaker Aslam touched upon the role of the People’s Majlis in this endeavor, particularly the work of the Environment and Climate Change Committee of the People’s Majlis.

On the sidelines of the event, Speaker Aslam met with the Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana.

Both speakers shed light on the five-decade old close diplomatic relations between Maldives and Sri Lanka and engaged in discussions on avenues to continue these relations in the future.

In addition to this, he held a meeting with the Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda and discussed deepening parliamentary diplomacy between the two countries and expressed keen interest to learn from the Maldives on best practices in tourism and management of adverse effects of climate change.

Speaker Aslam will be concluding his trip to Uganda and returning to Maldives on January 8.