The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) and the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the occasion of the 13th Plenary Assembly of PAM, held in Belgrade on 21 February 2019.
The MoU was signed by the Secretaries-General of the organizations, namely Amb. Sergio Piazzi and Dr. Andreas Michailidis respectively, as well as by PAM President, Hon. Pedro Roque, and the President of the IAO General Assembly, Hon. Sergei Gavrilov.
“I am of the firm belief that the work of IAO on inter-religious dialogue is of great importance as an instrument of soft diplomacy for our region, and greatly compliments PAM’s own work in bringing together parliamentarians and spiritual leaders, as we have done on numerous occasions, among which the conference we held in Rome in 2016 on this issue”, said President Roque.
In his statement, the IAO President, referred to the common values between PAM and IAO with roots of cooperation already having grown for continued fruitful and productive cooperation.
Throughout 2018, PAM and IAO have strengthened the cooperation between the two assemblies, and participated in respective key meetings, such as the 12th PAM Plenary session held in Bucharest, the General Assembly of the IAO in Athens, and the conference on interreligious dialogue held in Beirut. PAM has already been invited to participate to the next 26th General Assembly of the IAO, which will be held in Tbilisi, Georgia, in June.