DUSHANBE, November 15, 2010, Asia-Plus -- A Tajik parliamentary delegation, led by the Majlisi Milli (Tajikistan’s upper chamber of parliament) Speaker Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev, left for London on November 14 for a week-long visit at invitation of the speakers of both houses of British Parliament, Shavkat Saidov, an aide to the Majlisi Milli speaker, told Asia-Plus today.

According to him, it is the first visit of Tajik parliamentarians to the United Kingdom.

During the visit, they will meet the Lord Speaker, Baroness Hayman, Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, the Permanent Secretary of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Simon Fraser, and representatives from British Parliament’s All-Party Parliament Group on Afghanistan and Defense Committee.

The Tajik delegation members include representatives of the Majlisi Milli Nouriddin Saidov, Zarrina Rajabova, Qobilamo Ghulomshoyeva and representatives of the Majlsi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) Rustam Latipov and Mahmadsharif Nozimov, Saidov said, noting that the visit will last until the November 20.          

We will recall that Lord Viscount Waverley, head of British Tajikistan All-Party Parliamentary Group, met with Shukurjon Zuhurov, Chairman of the Majlisi Namoyandagon, in Dushanbe on October 1.  The sides considered issues related to expansion of cooperation between the parliaments of Tajikistan and the United Kingdom.  They agreed that it was necessary to bring parliamentary cooperation between the two countries to a new level.