OSCE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY`S WINTER MEETING SET TO DISCUSS EUROPEAN SECURITY ARCHITECTURE

Baku, February 16 (AzerTAc). 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, Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, will address the opening session on Thursday morning.

Other speakers include the President of the Austrian Nationalrat Barbara Prammer,
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 about the
initiatives by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and French President Nicolas
Sarkozy for new European security arrangements. The OSCE parliamentarians will hear
from Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Groushko, Deputy Director for
Political and Security Affairs of the French Foreign Ministry Veronique Bujon-Barre
and OSCE PA President Joao Soares.
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.
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 Greek Vice Minister of Mercantile Marine, Aegean and Island Policy,
Panos Kammenos on “Piracy as a new security threat.”
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan will be represented at the event by Vice-Speaker of the
Parliament (Milli Majlis) Bahar Muradova and her accompanying delegation.
They will deliver speeches on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, situation in the South
Caucasus and energy security.
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