The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) expressed its stand and vision regarding the role of parliamentary diplomacy at the conference organised by the South East European Cooperation Process Parliamentary Assembly (SEECPPA) on regional synergies, strategic cooperation and parliamentary diplomacy, held in Sofia, Bulgaria, on 6 November 2015. This was the first meeting of the SEECPPA, at which PAM was officially invited to attend, and represented an excellent opportunity to establish fruitful relations between the two Assemblies.
PAM was represented by Secretary General, Amb. Sergio Piazzi, who delivered a keynote speech during the session “SEECP PA and parliamentary diplomacy: Creating and managing relations with international and regional organizations”.
Amb. Piazzi said that the vision of PAM, shared by all its members, is that Parliaments and parliamentarians are a privileged “channel” to tackle the difficulties related to relations among states. “This aims at creating a spirit of better understanding and trust on many topics, for instance the humanitarian subject, as PAM is doing in connection with the Syrian crisis”, the PAM Secretary General added.
Recently, in the framework of two parallel cooperation projects with the UN and the Council of Europe, PAM has also created highly specialised teams of Parliamentarians in the fields of protection of civilians, promotion of human rights and facilitation of humanitarian assistance. These teams can be deployed, even at very short notice, to the field, in particularly critical situations, where the presence of the PAM MPs is considered essential to support international operations, such as in Syria.
“PAM represents the true pan-Mediterranean dimension of an international parliamentary work in the area of peace, security, and social and economic development. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean is a bridge among all the Mediterranean shores. By gathering the underlying common elements of the regional dimension, it provides the Parliaments with the opportunity to participate in a broader debate, both analytical and proactive, to guarantee a better consciousness of the challenges that our region is facing and to study the most effective measures for the solution of the problems that are afflicting it”, Amb. Piazzi concluded.
Many bilateral meetings were held on the margins of the conference, in the course of which the leading role and the effectiveness of PAM, as the only pan-Mediterranean parliamentary body, was highly commended and appreciated. Several projects for joint implementation were also proposed to the attention of the PAM Secretary General