For
immediate release
06
July 2007
PRESS
COMMUNIQUE - COMMUNIQUE PRESSE
NEW
PARLIAMENTARIANS IN HIGH-LEVEL BRIEFINGS AT NATO AND
SHAPE
From 8 to 12 July some 50
parliamentarians from NATO and partner countries including
Afghanistan and
Pakistan will meet the
AllianceÂ’s top civilian
and military leaders to get the latest inside views and information on NATOÂ’s
operations, roles and challenges.
The
intensive series of meetings is the AssemblyÂ’s eighth New Parliamentarians
Programme, aimed at legislators who are new to parliament or who have
recently become involved in their parliamentÂ’s Committees or delegations which
deal with international relations and security.
The Programme is open to
legislators from member countries as well as PfP countries and nations in the
Middle
East and North Africa (MENA), but
this is the first time that the programme has been opened to legislators from
Afghanistan and
Pakistan. In welcoming their involvement, Assembly
President José Lello (Portugal) said, “The New
Parliamentarians Programme is one of the AssemblyÂ’s success stories. It provides participants with excellent,
up-to-date information about NATO which helps them perform their tasks as
parliamentarians. Parliamentarians
approve defence budgets and authorize the use of their armed forces in
operations. They are also key
participants in their own national debates on foreign affairs and international
security. This Programme ensures
that they are well-informed about NATO and – equally importantly – it allows
legislators to express their own concerns and perspectives directly to the most
senior NATO officials”.
Participants will meet NATO's
Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, and the Supreme Allied Commander,
General John Craddock, as well as several NATO Ambassadors, Assistant
Secretaries General, and other top officials.
Legislators from 17
parliaments are participating.
These are: Estonia,
Latvia,
Lithuania,
Poland,
Romania,
Slovenia,
Spain,
Russia,
Bosnia and
Herzegovina,
Georgia,
Moldova,
Serbia, the
former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia*, the Assembly of
Kosovo, Jordan,
Afghanistan, and
Pakistan.
For
further information, please contact
e-mail:
Press@nato-pa.int
NATO
Parliamentary Assembly
Place
du Petit Sablon 3, 1000 Brussels,
Belgium
Tél:
(32) 2 513 28 65 | Fax: (32) 2 514 18 47 |
website:
http:// www.nato-pa.int
|
Background
The
NATO Parliamentary Assembly, founded in 1955 with a Brussels-based
secretariat,
brings
together 248 national parliamentarians from the 26 NATO
countries.
In
addition, 16 associate delegations from Central and
Eastern
Europe,
Ukraine
and Russia;
5 Mediterranean
Associate delegations: Morocco,
Algeria,
Jordan,
Mauritania and
Israel
and
6 Parliamentary Observer delegations participate in Assembly activities and
meetings.
Turkey
recognises the Republic of
Macedonia
with its constitutional name.