OSCE PA’S WINTER MEETING TO DEBATE AFGHANISTAN

lrahos16835.html
17:07:16 – 15/02/2010

A special debate on the situation in Afghanistan will take place
at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s ninth Winter Meeting in Vienna
18-19 February. The special debate will start at 13:30 on the second
day of the Meeting. Like all sessions during the two-day meeting,
it is open to the media.

Among the speakers on opening day are OSCE PA President Joao Soares,
the President of the Austrian Nationalrat Barbara Prammer, and the OSCE
Chairperson-in-Office, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev.

The Chairperson-in-Office’s speech will be followed by a question
and answer session.

Almost 250 OSCE parliamentarians from 53 participating States, and
parliamentarians from three Mediterranean Partners, are expected to
participate in the Winter Meeting. The Vienna meeting is the second
largest event on the PA’s annual calendar after the Annual Session,
which is being held from 6 to 10 July in Oslo.

OSCE Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut will speak and
answer questions during the closing session on 19 February. Several
heads of OSCE institutions are also scheduled to speak at the Meeting.

As in previous years, the Winter Meeting will be preceded by a
Standing Committee Meeting, starting at 9:30 on 18 February. At the
Standing Committee Meeting, members will discuss Assembly business and
will be briefed by President Soares, Treasurer Roberto Battelli, and
Secretary General Spencer Oliver on various PA activities, including
election observation and the work of Special Representatives and Ad
Hoc Committees.

Tone Tingsgaard, the Assembly’s Special Representative on Gender
Issues, will give her report during the closing session on 19 February.

The three General Committees of the Assembly will meet in special
sessions during the two-day conference.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress