PA participates in OSCE Mediterranean Conference in Cairo

A high level delegation from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, appointed by President Joao Soares, participated in the 2009 OSCE Mediterranean Conference held in Cairo  on 14 and 15 December.

Vice-President Isabel Pozuelo, who also heads the Spanish delegation to the PA, led the Assembly’s delegation to the Cairo Conference.  Other members were Riccardo Migliori, Rapporteur of the General Committee on Political Affairs and Security and Head of the Italian delegation to the PA, and Matteo Mecacci, Rapporteur of the Assembly’s General Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions.

The Cairo Mediterranean Conference, an annual event of the OSCE, focused on “The Mediterranean Partners and the OSCE: Co-operation toward enhanced security and stability.” It included sessions and discussions on politico-military aspects of security in the OSCE area and the Mediterranean, implications on migration of the current economic and financial crisis, and the prospects for further OSCE-Mediterranean co-operation.

PA representatives intervened in the debates and referred to the Assembly’s important contribution to the Mediterranean dialogue in the OSCE, including the activities of the Special Representative for the Mediterranean Alcee Hastings and the Assembly’s Annual Mediterranean Forum, held in Athens in October. 

Vice-President Pozuelo referred in her intervention to the need for engagement with the Palestinian National Authority in the OSCE’s Mediterranean dimension and for increasing dialogue and co-operation among international organizations dealing with Mediterranean issues. 

Riccardo Migliori spoke about the need for further enhancing the dialogue with the Mediterranean partners and informed participants about the prospects for the Assembly’s 2010 Mediterranean Forum to be held in Palermo next October as part of the Assembly’s Fall Meetings.