Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who is currently leading an Indian Parliamentary Delegation to G20 Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit (P20) being organized in Rome from 7 to 8 October 2021, held a bilateral meeting with the Speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Sir Lindsay Hoyle today.

Speaking on the occasion, Birla said that every country has its own sovereignty which other countries should respect. No country should raise the internal affairs of other countries in its Parliament unless those matters affect the interests of that country. Both leaders agreed that the Members of their Parliaments must exchange views through parliamentary diplomacy and try to find out how democratic institutions can be strengthened in the interest of the people.

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Birla made an intervention at the First Working Session on “Response to the Social and Employment Crisis caused by the Pandemic.”

Speaking on the occasion, Birla underlined that in order to deal with global disasters in future, we need to treat the whole world as one ‘family’ and formulate an integrated and coordinated strategy to deal with global issues and Parliaments need to work together towards this goal.

Birla emphasized that our priority should be to formulate developmental policies that ensure welfare of all sections of the society. He added that such development policies need to be extensively deliberated and discussed on multilateral platforms with the objective of preparing a suitable and sustainable global roadmap founded on the principles of social and economic justice.

He said that COVID-19 has adversely affected several sectors of India’s economy. He added that in order to effectively deal with the pandemic, India has focused its efforts simultaneously on saving lives and livelihoods.

Birla informed that the Parliament of India discharged its democratic duties even at the height of the pandemic and passed several legislations, including four historic labour laws, with the objective of enhancing employment generation and ensuring wage security, social security and job security for its citizens. He further informed that the Government of India gave special emphasis on reviving the national economy and a special package of $420 Billion to strengthen the country’s economy is currently being implemented.

The Lok Sabha Speaker also held bilateral meetings with the Presiding Officers of Parliaments of the Netherlands and Germany.