The Canadian NATO Parliamentary
Association has the honour to present its report on the Meetings of the
Standing Committee and the Secretaries of Delegation, April 4-6, 2009. Canada
was represented by Mr. Leon Benoit, M.P., Senator Pierre Claude Nolin, Senator
Jane Cordy and Ms. Jodi Turner, Association Secretary.
SECRETARIES OF DELEGATION MEETING
The Secretaries of Delegation met on Saturday, April 4th,
2009 and the meeting was chaired by Ms. Snieguole Zuikaite, Secretary of the
Lithuanian Delegation. Topics discussed were as follows:
·Overview of the programme of the meetings in Vilnius
·Consideration of the Draft Agenda of the Standing Committee
meeting
·Discussion regarding preparation of the Spring Session in Oslo,
Norway, from 22 to 26 May 2009
oDraft Programme
oProgramme for
Accompanying Persons
oGeneral
Information
·Discussion regarding preparation of the 55th Annual
Session in Edinburgh, United Kingdom from 13 to 17 November 2009
oDraft Programme
·Discussion regarding preparation of future sessions and meetings
oStanding
Committee meeting in Memphis, United States, 26-28 March 2010
oSpring Session
in Riga, Latvia, 28 May – 1 June 2010
oAnnual Session
in Warsaw, Poland, 12-16 November 2010
oMeetings in
2011 and 2012
·Discussion regarding the liaison between Delegations and the
International Secretariat
·Any other business
STANDING COMMITTEE
MEETING
The Standing Committee
met on Sunday, April 5th, 2009 and the meeting was chaired by Mr.
John Tanner, President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and Representative
from the United States.
The Standing Committee addressed many issues, including
the extensive report of the Working Group on Assembly Reform. Several
significant decisions were taken while other matters were deferred to the
forthcoming Standing Committee meeting in Oslo at the end of May.
Major Decisions Taken By the Standing Committee in
Vilnius
Assembly Officers:
·Mr. Assen Agov (Bulgaria) was confirmed in his position as
Assembly Vice-President
Relations with Russia:
·There will be no change in Russian participation in Assembly
events; the delegation will be limited to participation in sessions, meetings
of the NATO-Russia Parliamentary Committee and the New Parliamentarians
Programme.
·At sessions, the Russian delegation will be composed of ten
members.
·The International Secretariat will prepare a “checklist” of
issues pertinent to relations with Russia.
Relations with Belarus
·Belarus should feature as one of the subjects addressed in the
Rose-Roth Seminar in Ukraine in October and should be studied by either or both
the Political Committee and the Committee on the Civil Dimension of Security.
·The political situation in Belarus does not warrant any further
reconsideration of the Assembly’s relationship with Belarus at this time.
Relations with Georgia
·The Bureau (or the Standing Committee) should appoint two Special
Coordinators to work with the leader of the Georgian Delegation to ensure that
the Assembly’s overall programme provides the appropriate prominence to
Georgia-related matters.
·This group would be designated a the “NATO PA-Georgia Steering
Group”. Its members would participate in the Coordination Meetings and all
Assembly activities pertinent to Georgia.
Participation in
Sessions
·Spring Sessions from 2010 will involve Member and Associate
member delegations only.
·Parliamentary Observer delegations and delegations from
interparliamentary assemblies will be limited to two rather than the current
three delegates.
·Staff accompanying non-member delegations will be limited to a
maximum of one per three delegates.
·If the number of staff accompanying member delegations exceeds
one per three delegates, staff above and beyond that limit should not
participate in receptions and other social events.
Status of Non-Member Delegations:
·The term, “Regional Partners and Mediterranean Associate Members”
will replace the designation “Mediterranean Associate Members”.
·Delegations in that category will be limited to a maximum of
three delegates.
·All forms of non-member status will lapse by default if a delegation
does not participate in an Assembly session over three consecutive years.
·A delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean
will be invited as a Parliamentary Guest to a future session.
Parliamentary Transatlantic Forum
·The Parliamentary Transatlantic Forum will be restricted to
member delegations, although associate members may be invited on an ad hoc
basis if warranted by the subjects under discussion.
Many other matters were discussed during the meeting,
and where certain decisions could not be taken, the matters were deferred to
the next round of deliberation at the forthcoming Standing Committee meeting in
Oslo.
Respectfully submitted,
Mr. Leon Benoit, M.P.
Chair
Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association (NATO PA)