Maltese Member of the European Parliament, Hon. Dr. Miriam Dalli, paid an official visit to the Secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean. Ms. Dalli was welcomed by PAM Secretary General, Amb. Sergio Piazzi, with whom a number of issues were discussed.
During the meeting the political situation in the MENA region was reviewed. Amb. Piazzi briefed MEP Dalli on the actions undertaken by PAM during 2014 in conjunction with other International Organisations, such as the United Nations, and highlighted how PAM intended to tackle major issues during the current year, including the cooperation in the implementation of the UN Security Council Res. 2178 on Counter Terrorism and Foreign Fighters.
Other topics of interest included PAM’s role through its Panel for Trade and Investment in the Mediterranean, and in particular the Energy and Climate Change sectors, and that of the newly established PAM Academic Platform.
Dr. Dalli and Amb. Piazzi also discussed the possibility, with the help of PAM Vice-President, Hon. Michel Vauzelle of France, to gather in Marseille, together with the civil society, also representatives of all regional parliamentary assemblies, as already done in Malta in 2009, in order to agree on a common statement on the occasion of the Climate Change COP 21 Summit in Paris.
Amb. Piazzi also introduced the PAM’s Euro-Mediterranean strategy and expressed the need to further strengthen ties with the European institutions. PAM Secretary General and MEP Dalli also agreed to work together, with the assistance of her office in Brussels, at the organisation of high level meetings for PAM Bureau members with the Presidents of the relevant European Parliament’s Committees, and the European Commission itself, with whom synergies for more coordinated actions in the region are essential.