Goran Lennmarker, the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, has given a positive assessment of Ukraine´s preparations for holding the 16th session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, which will begin its work on July 5, 2007.
At a press conference on July 4, Mr. G.Lennmarker said he was looking forward to fruitful work of members of parliament from OSCE member states in Kyiv.
Lennmarker also said that during the session the PA will address many important issues, including: energy security, the situation in Belarus, human rights and others. During committee work forum participants will discuss the problem of so-called "frozen conflicts".
G.Lennmarker mentioned one of them, namely the situation in the Transdniester region. However, he said that the delegation from the Moldovan Parliament will not be taking part in the session and this issue cannot be considered without the delegation.
When asked by the journalists about the political situation in Ukraine and possible transfer of the session to another state, the President of the PA OSCE said that this it is not the task of the Parliamentary Assembly to consider the political situation in countries. G.Lennmarker did not comment on the situation surrounding the Ukrainian Parliament, saying only that "Ukrainians need to resolve this problem independently".
Answering a question on the transfer of the session to another state, G.Lennmarker said: "This session is taking place at the invitation of the Ukrainian Parliament. We were assured that it will run smoothly. Consequently, the issue of a transfer is not being considered".
Goran Lennmarker also confirmed the participation of the Russian delegation in the session, which was uncertain for a long time.
G.Lennmarker said he hoped that the holding of the session of the Parliamentary Assembly in Kyiv would attract the attention of Ukrainian citizens to it. PA He also noted the excellent conditions that Ukraine had created for the session.
The press conference was also attended by PA OSCE Secretary General Spencer Oliver.