NATO PA – PAM committed to safeguard citizen’s security and democratic systems in the Mediterranean

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MEDIA INFORMATION: 54/2017
ISSUED ON: 28/11/2017

A high level delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) participated at the Joint Seminar of the Mediterranean and Middle East Special Group (GSM) and the Sub-Committee on Transatlantic Defence and Security Cooperation (DSCTC) of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly held at the Italian Parliament in Rome on 23-24 November 2017.

The delegation was led by PAM Honorary President Sen. Francesco Amoruso and included Sen. Luigi Compagna and Secretary General Amb. Sergio Piazzi.

The event, which has been organised in conjunction with the Italian Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) considered a range of topics including the situation in Libya and North Africa, the migration crisis, the situation in Syria and Iraq, the terrorist threat to Europe and the Western Balkans, and countering radicalisation and violent extremism.

Participants also reviewed a draft report on the threat posed by ISIL/DAESH and Al Qaeda to Europe prepared by Hon. Manciulli.

Over 100 members of parliament from 35 countries attended the Seminar, including MPs from NATO Member and Associate Member States, associated Mediterranean countries, Gulf states and countries on the southern rim of the Mediterranean, and partner assemblies. The Seminar also heared from academics and security experts specialising in the Mediterranean and Middle East.

Sen. Compagna addressed the event on behalf of PAM and recalled that the Assembly, since 2009, has been at the forefront in the fight against terrorism, violent extremism and radicalization. In recent years, PAM has organized six parliamentary debates dedicated to how national and regional parliaments of the region can effectively contribute to the efforts of the international community to safeguard the security of citizens and the safeguarding of the democratic systems of the Mediterranean countries. In 2012, PAM concluded an agreement with the UN Security Council Anti-Terrorism Committee and together worked out the various resolutions adopted by that body and then in Rome a few months ago an assessment was carried out on how national legislations had fulfilled the obligations arising from those texts.

PAM will organise a meeting in St. Petersburg, next April, which has two main goals: the first is to associate the Central Asian countries with the debate in order to increase their legislative capacity to effectively counter ISIS, including the phenomenon of the return of foreign terrorist fighters. The second objective of the Saint Petersburg meeting is to bridge the gaps identified at the Rome seminar in relation to the lack of interoperability between the legal and police systems that exist between these countries, as each has turned resolutions into law of the Security Council, but in a different way. Sen. Compagna also highlighted another central theme of PAMs work, which is that of mass migration from Africa to Europe.

On 25 November, Sen Amoruso and Amb. Piazzi also participated in the visit to the NATO South Command in Naples. On that occasion, delegates were briefed on the planned activities of the NATO Southern Hub for operations and training programs in the MENA region and the Gulf. On the margins of the visit, SG Piazzi held a bilateral exchange of views with US Admiral Foggo III and his closer aides.

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