The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM), an Observer to the UN General Assembly, is participating to the 65th General Assembly being held in New York. PAM is represented by the Vice-Presidents, Senator Francesco Maria Amoruso (Italy), Senator Abdellatif Abdouh (Morocco) and the Secretary General, Dr. Sergio Piazzi. The PAM delegation joined Heads of States and/or Governments in the High Level Summit on the Millennium development Goals.

During his mission in New York, the PAM Secretary General will hold a series of bilateral meetings, among others, with the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Ambassador Alain Le Roy, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Mr. Oscar Fernandez Taranco, as well as with a number of Ministers and Permanent Representatives of PAM member states to the UN in New York.

Political, security, economic, social and environmental issues will be discussed, as well as the coordination of further collaboration, in order to strengthen the active participation of PAM to the UN General Assembly and to other global initiatives which could be of benefit to the region’s countries and populations.

The PAM delegation also actively contributed to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting in New York entitled ‘Mobilising parliamentary support for MDG policies and plans’. On this occasion the IPU and the UN Millenium Campaign presented a new study on ways in which parliaments have been able to integrate the MDGs into their work. Since 2006 PAM has constantly emphasised the role of national parliaments as leading institutions in the implementation of the MDGs in the Mediterranean region and is committed to continue to engage them in further debates and dialogues to exchange experiences and best practices and to translate into legislation the needs of the citizens they represent.