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Swraj Paul outlines agenda of friendship among nations

Swraj Paul

SINGAPORE: Lord Swraj Paul, India-born British parliamentarian and Labour member of the House of Lords, is presenting to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) an “agenda of friendship among nations and their peoples.”

Lord Paul has outlined this agenda, ahead of a straight contest with Malaysian Minister Shafie Apdal in the election for Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the CPA at its meeting in Kuala Lumpur on August 9.

Hashim Abdul Halim, Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, is the present Chairperson. The executive head of the CPA is not entitled to seek a second term of three years; and the winner of the August 9 contest will lead the organisation in the run-up to its centenary in 2011.

Lord Paul told The Hindu over the telephone on Saturday that his credentials for the top post could be traced to and beyond his parliamentary experience since 1996. Important, too, were his success as a business leader in India as also in the United Kingdom and his exposure to the educational scene as the chancellor of two universities. He would in fact be able to devote a great deal of attention to the CPA’s urgent tasks because of the “time” he could find as “a senior back-bench parliamentarian.”

Pledging a wide-ranging but focussed plan of action, Lord Paul said his vision was to foster the CPA as “a happy family of nations, big and small, rich and poor.” He would, if elected, seek to pursue “the collective cause” of the parliaments of Commonwealth countries in a bid to “make a better world.”

He cited, in this context, the centrality of the United Nations’ mandated Millennium Development Goals (MDG). A democratically-elected parliament in each member-country of the CPA could play a critical role by “holding the executive to account” in this domain of social responsibility and also over normal issues of governance.

The “marvellous” MDG must be taken beyond the realm of “a buzzword.” He would, therefore, like to see the CPA ensure the required “capacity building” in each Commonwealth country. And, he envisioned such an economic role within the framework of the CPA’s mandate of strengthening parliamentary democracy in a proactive fashion.

As for sustainable growth, he said the CPA, while keeping in mind the “aspirations of the developing countries,” could help “find a proper balance between development and controlling pollution.” Climate change should be a major concern of the organisation.

On the related issue of energy security, he set the record straight about reports that he took exception to India’s civil nuclear energy deal with the United States. Lord Paul said: “We have to make sure that we are aware of the threat of terrorism so that we don’t create a new problem because of nuclear [power] plants.”

Greater diplomatic efforts to “reduce [the threat of] terrorism” would be needed in this new context.

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