At the closing ceremony of the 15th Plenary Session, outgoing PAM President Hon. Karim Darwish (Egypt) congratulated Hon. Gennaro Migliore (Italy) for his election as the incoming President of the Assembly for 2021-2022.
As part of the PAM structure that ensures equality between the two shores of the Mediterranean, the Presidency rotated from the southern group to the north for the next biennium. The Assembly held an electronic vote ahead of the Plenary Session, with Hon. Migliore receiving 81% support from the northern group for his candidacy.
Hon. Migliore has shown tremendous commitment to the work of the Assembly, acting as the Chair of the PAM Special Committee on Counterterrorism. Under his leadership, PAM has been widely recognised as the leading interparliamentary platform on counterterrorism, signed a cooperation agreement with the UN Office on Counterterrorism, and briefed the UN Security Council on the outcomes of its parliamentary work.
Hon. Migliore thanked the outgoing President for his outstanding leadership of the Assembly during the critical period of the pandemic and presented his vision for the further reinforcement of the status of PAM. Despite the difficulties, under the Egyptian leadership, PAM rose to the challenges faced by the region and implemented an impressive work plan.
Elected to the new Bureau are: Vice Presidents Sen. Lyes Achour (Algeria), Hon. Karim Darwish (Egypt), Hon. Sandrine Mörch (France), Hon. Yitzhak Pindros (Israel), Sen. Alia Bouran (Jordan), Hon. Belal Qasem (Palestine) and Hon. Pedro Roque (Portugal).
Within the new Bureau, France will Chair the 3rd Standing Committee on Human Rights and Dialogue Among Civilisations, Jordan will continue to lead the 1st Standing Committee on Political and Security related Cooperation, and Egypt will preside over the 2nd Standing Committee on Economic, Social and Environmental Cooperation.