Final Plenary Meeting of the 16th Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly was held in The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Monday, 9 July.
At the beginning of the meeting the parliament members listened to the report by Jerry Grafstein, the Parliamentary Assembly Treasurer. He reported that Organization funds are in complete order and are economically and transparently expended according to the adopted budget.
The Treasurer also informed about a 4-per cent (inflation included) increase in financing of the OSCE PA.
Concluding his work as a Treasurer, J. Grafstein expressed his hope that PA funds will still remain in reliable and honest hands.
Spencer Oliver, the Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly, has reported on his work. He stated the following: when he was holding office, the Assembly was actively developing and now the International Secretariat proceeds with rewarding and effective work, supporting the activity of expanding Organisation.
The Secretary General drew attention to several directions of activity within the period under review, namely: successful holding of such events as Autumn Session in Malta, Winter Session in Vienna, and Economic Conference in Andorra.
Spencer Oliver also reported that the Parliamentary Assembly actively participates in election observation missions, sending parliamentarians to observe election in Serbia and Armenia this year, and in Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia and Tajikistan in the second half of the year.
The Secretary General also reported on the work of special representatives and special committees which constitutes an integral part of the OSCE PA activity.
Spencer Oliver expressed gratitude to the Ukrainian parliament members for good preparation and successful holding of the OSCE PA 16th Annual Session.
The parliament members, who spoke after the report by the Secretary General, drew attention to insufficient awareness of the people in their countries of the OSCE PA activity. They proposed to issue booklets in national languages about the Parliamentary Assembly in order to popularize the activity of the Organization.
The Secretary General complied with this proposal and dwelled on a new PA communication strategy which comprises both this issue, and possibility of using such communication means as the OSCE PA official web-page in the Internet.
Oleh Bilorus, the representative of the Permanent Delegation of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, commented on successful work of the PA in Kyiv, and proposed to hold some future OSCE PA events in Ukraine.
This proposal was positively accepted.
Then the participants of the plenary meeting considered resolutions, adopted by the committees. The chairmen of three PA Committees reported on the adopted resolutions and issues arranged for consideration. Considering the Resolution on the issues "Energy Security" and "Situation in Belarus", adopted by the General Committee on political affairs and security, Goran Lennmarker, the PA President, proposed discussing them separately.
The first Resolution on the issue "Energy Security" was adopted without a discussion.
Natallya Andreichyk, the representative of Belarus parliamentary delegation, spoke on the issue "Situation in Belarus". She stated that Belarus delegation opposes both consideration of this issue at the Parliamentary Assembly, and adoption of the Resolution. She reasoned the position of Belarus parliament members by the fact that according to its standing order, the Parliamentary Assembly does not consider the situation in a particular participating State, but only general issues regarding all the participating States or their majority. N. Andreichyk has also stated that all the OSCE participating States have problems fulfilling commitments. Therefore, it is incongruous to single out one country.
N.Andreichyk emphasized that Belarus will proceed with the dialogue with the OSCE PA, whatever resolution will be adopted by the Assembly. However, adoption of an unbalanced and biased resolution will not facilitate it.
The representative of Russian Federation delegation seconded the position of Belarus parliamentary delegation. He stated that Russian delegation will vote against adoption of the resolution on Belarus issue. In case such a resolution is adopted, Russian delegation will abstain from voting for the final document of Kyiv Declaration.
The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly adopted the Resolution "Situation in Belarus".
The participants of the meeting also ratified the following resolutions, adopted at the sittings of Committees: "Settlement of Conflicts within the OSCE Region", "Women in Conditions of Peace and Security", "Prohibition of the Cassette Bombs", "Illegal Air Conveyance of Small Arms, Light Weapons and Relevant Ammunition", "Strategy of Environmental Security", "Liberalization of Transatlantic Security", "Strengthening of Cooperation between the OSCE and Human Rights Activists and Organizations", "Strengthening of Counteraction to Human Trafficking within the Territory of the OSCE participating States", "Fight with Anti-Semitism, Racism, Xenophobia and Other Forms of Intolerance, including Intolerance of the Moslem and the Romani".
Then the participants of the meeting adopted Kyiv Declaration of the OSCE PA "Implementation of the OSCE Commitments".
At the end of the meeting several officials of the Assembly were elected. Goran Lennmarker was reelected the PA President till the end of 2008; Anne-Marie Lizin, the Chairman of the Senate of Belgium, Canadian Senator Jerry Grafstein and Senator Kimmo Kiljunen (Finland) were elected the Vice-Presidents of the Assembly till the end of 2010.
Goran Lennmarker, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly, informed about the events of the Assembly scheduled for the nearest time, and invited all the parliament members to attend them.
Then the 16th Annual Session of The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly was closed.
Next 17th Session of the OSCE PA will be held in Astana (Kazakhstan) in 2008.