Lok Sabha Speaker, Shri Om Birla, has constituted the Parliamentary Friendship Groups (PFGs), which is an inter-parliamentary engagement mechanism for more than 60 countries. This marks a significant milestone in the domain of parliamentary diplomacy. Indian parliamentarians from major political parties, such as Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad, Dr Shashi Tharoor, Mr Akhilesh Yadav, and Ms Hema Malini, will be engaging and leading the PFGs. which will result in facilitating the global parliamentary outreach.
The PFGs will enable inter-parliament dialogue among member nations. This will provide an avenue for the members of parliaments to exchange their experiences, share best parliamentary practices and learn from their global counterparts. The Parliamentary Friendship Groups will be joined by 60 countries including Sri Lanka, Germany, Switzerland, South Africa, Bhutan, the European Union parliament, France, Japan, Israel, the United Kingdom, South Korea, New Zealand, Italy, Oman, the UAE and others in the first phase and the dialogue will facilitate discussions spanning trade, technology, social policy, culture and global developments.
This initiative signifies the role of parliamentary diplomacy in India’s soft power outreach that will project India as a mature democracy, willing to engage and collaborate at the global level. PFGs promote people-to-people connections, making foreign engagement more participatory. The interactions within PFGs will include structured exchanges, dialogues, study visits and joint discussions. .
The purpose behind constituting PFGs is to initiate dialogue between Indian lawmakers with counterparts abroad. They would share their legislative experiences. PFGs will provide a suitable environment to promote mutual respect and values through regular engagement. This strengthens the idea of multilateralism at global stage. This reinforces the idea of ‘‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ which means the world is one family. PFGs complement the mechanism of parliamentary diplomacy, which will contribute as a bridge among nations.
Honourable Speaker of Lok Sabha has played an important role in constituting these PFGs. During his tenure as Speaker, Parliament has increasingly participated in foreign engagement. This underlines the crucial importance of parliamentary diplomacy in strengthening India’s global position and deepening democratic cooperation among nations. Lok Sabha Secretariat has stated that PFGs would represent ‘multi-faceted dimensions’ of Indian democracy on the global stage.
The constitution of the Parliamentary Friendship Group, thus, marks the strategic effort to strengthen India’s parliamentary diplomacy. This will deepen India’s bilateral cooperation with over 60 countries. PFGs will bring together leaders from different political parties and legislators of diverse ideologies in promoting the Indian constitutional vision and democratic values at global stage, which will promote the democratic culture of discussion, deliberation and dialogue.
