- The fourth South Asian Speakers Summit was held in Male,Maldives. The annual summit was organised jointly by the Inter Parliamentary Union(IPU) and the Maldives parliament.
- The summit was attended by the senior lawmakers from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
- The main focus of the summit was on Sustainable Development Goals-2030 and how to make and impact to achieve these goals.
- The summit adopted the Male declaration.The declaration has called on member states to work collectively for the promotion of equality at work, equal remuneration and creation of jobs for youths.
- However,the declaration overlooked all assertions made by the Pakistan parliamentary delegation to get a passing reference to Kashmir issue.
- The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is an international organisation of parliament.It was established in 1889 with an aim to promote the parliamentary dialogue world-wide and works for peace and cooperation among the people.
