A three-day parliamentary training seminar for members of the National Assembly opened yesterday with the objective of making Parliament more responsive to the challenges it faces.

Speaker of the National Assembly Hari Ramkarran SC said the seminar offers newly-elected members the opportunity to receive useful information and guidance on how Parliament functions. In addition, members get to focus on specific areas such as committee work.

He said the parliamentary reform process, which started a while ago has equipped the assembly with the tools and mechanism it needs to discharge its responsibilities. Ramkarran noted that the impact of the reform is being felt and increasingly much more parliamentary time is being saved.

The Health Facilities Licensing Bill of 2006 which was recently referred to a select committee after one reading was among the changes the assembly has made as a result of the reform process, he noted.

British High Commis-sioner to Guyana Fraser Wheeler, in his brief remarks, pointed out that the future development in any country depends heavily on good governance which is as a result of a well functioning Parliament.

Wheeler said that by implementing recommendations made in the Sir Michael Davies report the local parliament has taken a major step forward. Opposition Leader Robert Corbin expressed his hope that the time spent at the seminar will be fruitful, and that after the session has ended the assembly will be cognizant that a lot more is still to be done in order to respond to the needs of the people. The seminar is being sponsored by the Fiscal and Financial Management Pro-gramme of the National Assembly and the British High Commission in Georgetown and is being held at Grand Coastal Inn, East Coast Demerara. The seminar will cover areas such as the role and responsibilities of parliamentary office holders, rules of procedures and operations of committees and functions of committees, among other areas.