OSCE PA's Winter Meeting to debate situation in Mediterranean

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly`s tenth Winter Meeting, being held 24-25 February in Vienna, Austria, will include a special debate on the situation in the Mediterranean region in light of events in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere.

More than 250 parliamentarians from 55 countries are expected to participate in the annual Vienna meeting, including several from the OSCE Mediterranean Partners.

Federal President of Austria Heinz Fischer will address the parliamentarians on 24 February.

The Committee on Political Affairs and Security (First Committee) meeting will include a discussion on Kyrgyzstan, including comments from Mr. Kimmo Kijunen (Finland), the OSCE PA`s Special Representative for Central Asia, who led the International Independent Commission for Inquiry into last June`s interethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan.

Mr. Chris Smith (United States), the OSCE PA Special Representative on Human Trafficking Issues, will speak in the Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment (Second Committee).

The Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions (Third Committee) will host a discussion on the situation in Belarus, where the OSCE Mission was closed down after last December`s presidential elections. Mr. Janez Lenarcic, director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, and OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic will open that debate.

For the special debates in joint session, OSCE PA Special Representative on Mediterranean Affairs Alcee Hastings (United States) will open the debate on recent developments in Mediterranean Partner States of Egypt and Tunisia. OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities Knut Vollebaek and OSCE PA Special Representative on Migration Kathleen Ferrier (Netherlands) will begin the debate titled “Immigration, Integration and Multi-Ethnic Dialogue in the OSCE.”

Both debates are taking place on 25 February. All Winter Meeting sessions are open to the media.

Others addressing the meeting include: OSCE PA President Petros Efthymiou, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Azubalis, Speaker Barbara Prammer of the Austrian Parliament, and recently appointed OSCE PA Special Representative on Gender Issues, Dr. Hedy Fry (Canada).


/AzerTAc/