Standing Committee

Standing Committee meeting in Astana, June 2008

President Goran Lenmarker opened the meeting of the Standing Committee and proposed the agenda, which was adopted without objection.

He informed the Committee of the Presidential visits he made during his mandate: to Canada, Iceland, Cyprus, Morocco and Tunisia, and Afghanistan.

In explaining the significance of his trip to Afghanistan, he underlined the importance of the Mediterranean dialogue and the crucial role of Afghanistan for stability in both Central Asia and the OSCE region as a whole. He also reported on the recent St. Petersburg meeting with the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, at which election monitoring was discussed, and informed of his participation in the Strasbourg meeting of parliamentary Speakers. He also welcomed the Finnish CiO initiative of the Quintet, bringing together the expired Spanish CiO, the current Finnish CiO and the future Greek, Kazakh and Lithuanian Chairmanships of the OSCE.

He then thanked the Senate of Kazakhstan for hosting the Annual Session and gave the floor to the Mr. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Chairman of the Senate of Kazakhstan, who remarked on the historical significance of holding the Annual Session in Central Asia for the first time ever. Following Mr. Tokayev, Mr. Hans Raidel (Germany), Treasurer of the OSCE PA, offered his report on the financial state of the Parliamentary Assembly. He informed the Committee that the PA continues to remain within budget and is in good financial health.

Moving on to the OSCE PA’s election observation activities, Mr. Lennmarker gave the floor to the Special Co-ordinators of the three election observation missions that have taken place since the last meeting of the Standing Committee in February. Mr. Roberto Battelli (Slovenia) reported on the IEOM in Serbia, Mr. Joao Soares (Portugal) on the IEOM in Georgia, and Ms. Pia Christmas-Moeller (Denmark) on the IEOM in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Regarding election observation, the President emphasized the importance of extending the pool of MPs participating in election monitoring and to enhance gender balance in the election observation exercises. He noted that the representation of women has increased to one-third in recent election observation missions, which is still not enough, but certainly a step in the right direction.

President Emeritus Alcee Hastings (USA) and OSCE PA Secretary General Spencer Oliver both briefed the Committee on the recent St. Petersburg meeting with the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, the purpose of which was to clear the way for co-operation in election observation and to possibly give some recommendation to the respective assemblies. However, Mr. Oliver reported, no agreement was reached. He added that the CiO was constantly informed of the process.

The meeting was concluded with an address by Mr. Consiglio Di Nino (Canada), who briefed the audience about the venue of the upcoming Fall Meetings in Toronto.