The 60th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conference that was being staged in Yaounde from October 2, has officially ended with the election of Sharmin Chaudhury as president.

Yesterdays closing ceremony was marked by elections, during which Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury; speaker of the parliament of Bangladesh emerged as the president of the executive committee of CPA. Shirin who takes over from Sir Alan Gordon Barraclough Haselhurst, becomes the first-ever woman to hold the post within the CPA.

Also, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq of Pakistan replaces Cavaye Yegue Debrille of Cameroon as speaker of the Commonwealth parliament.

Shortly after the election, the new executive president, Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury expressed gratitude for the mandate and promised to uphold the ideals of the Commonwealth.

The next rendezvous of the annual CPA conference was taken for Pakistan. The confab of international repute was being staged under the theme: “Repositioning the Commonwealth for the post 2015 development agenda.”

For the past days, CPA delegates from Africa, Asia, Australia, British Isles and the Mediterranean, Canada, Caribbean and the Atlantic, India, Pacific and South East Asia regions brainstormed on issues related to democracy, sustainable development and the parliament. Emphasises was placed on fine-tuning strategies that could be use to attain the objectives of the millennium development goals in most countries.

While in Cameroon, the CPA delegates had leisure trips to Limbe, Kribi and Mbalmayo. They equally paid a visit to the national museum, the Chantal Biya international reference centre, the Mvogt-Betsi zoological garden among others.

The 8-day conference was equally an opportunity for the over 700 delegates from the 53 CPA member countries to have a taste of Cameroon exotic cuisine, feel the legendary hospitality of a peace-loving people and enjoy the cultural diversity of the country.