OSCE PA Winter Meeting set to discuss European security architecture

PanARMENIAN.Net - More than 270 parliamentarians from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly are scheduled to attend the Eighth Winter Meeting in Vienna 19-20 February, where the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Greece's Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, will address the opening session on Thursday morning, February 19, the OSCE PA press office told PanARMENIAN.Net



Other speakers include the President of the Austrian Nationalrat, Barbara Prammer; the President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, U.S. Congressman, John Tanner; and OSCE PA President, Joao Soares.



One of the highlights during the Winter Meeting will be a special debate on Friday morning, 20 February, about the initiatives by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and French President Nicolas Sarkozy for new

European security arrangements. The OSCE parliamentarians will hear from Alexander Groushko, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; Veronique Bujon-Barre, Deputy Director for Political and Security Affairs of the French Foreign Ministry; and OSCE PA President Joao Soares.



The debate, as other sessions and the meetings of the three General Committees during the Winter Meeting, is open to the press.



During the closing session on 20 February, the delegates will hear presentations by the OSCE PA's Special Representative on Gender Issues, OSCE PA Vice-President Tone Tingsgaard, and by Panos Kammenos,

Greek Vice Minister of Mercantile Marine, Aegean & Island Policy, on "Piracy As a New Security Threat."



The Winter Meeting's agenda also includes a special presentation on Kazakhstan's preparations for its OSCE Chairmanship in 2010 by the Kazakh delegation, led by its head of delegation and OSCE PA Vice

President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.



The OSCE PA Winter Meeting, addressed by the top officials of the OSCE, including the Secretary General and Heads of Institutions is the second largest event in the OSCE PA calendar, topped only by the Annual Session, which is due in Vilnius, Lithuania from June 29 to July 3.