Indian Parliament is hosting a four-day Conference of the Association of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Speakers and Parliamentarians beginning from Saturday here, the Lok Sabha Speaker, Ms Meira Kumar, said here on Friday.

Addressing a news conference about the Conference, fifth in a series, Ms Kumar said nearly 130 delegates including observers and accompanying persons from the eight SAARC countries including the latest member Afghanistan would participate in the regional Conference.

Afghanistan which became the eighth member of SAARC in 2007 would be formally joining the conference for the first time. All the Speakers of the State Assemblies including legislative Councils would attend the Conference, she said.

She said the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, would inaugurate the Conference in the Central Hall of Parliament on Saturday evening.

This will be followed by the addresses of the Speakers of the national Parliaments of the other SAARC members.

It is for the first time that the Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan, Dr Fehmida Mirza, would be giving a speech in India's Central Hall of Parliament.

The Conference of the Association of SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians was established with the objective of promoting people-to-people contacts and interaction among Parliaments and Parliamentarians so as to further deepen the roots of parliamentary democracy in the South Asian region.

The Association was launched in 1992 and it is the second time that New Delhi is hosting the Conference from July 9, she said.

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