Hon. Askin Asan, Head of the Turkish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM), has paved the way for PAM’s role at the United Nations, since the former was granted the Observer Status to the UN General Assembly in December 2009.

The Turkish parliamentarian represented PAM at the 54th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, and at the IPU-UN parliamentary event entitled “The role of parliaments in enforcing gender equality and women’s rights, 15 years after Beijing”. Ms. Asan is the Rapporteur for the PAM Special Task Force on Gender and Equality Issues.

“It is a great honor for me to be PAM’s first official delegate to participate at a UN event. It also invests me with a sense of deep responsibility both towards my country and the citizens of the Mediterranean region as a whole. This is what PAM stands for”. Hon. Asan commented.

The Observer Status at the UNGA represents for PAM a further opportunity to keep the international community focused also on the regional dimension of the wider geopolitical strategies of world parliamentary diplomacy. This is required in order to step up the process for the achievement of a world order for the benefit of all stakeholders which has to start at a local and regional level.