A high-level delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) visited the UN Headquarters in New York from 19 to 22 June 2017 in order to meet with senior officials of the United Nations in the implementation of its mandate and in light of the forthcoming PAM mission to the Middle East in mid-July.
The PAM delegation was composed of the President, Hon. Pedro Roque; Honorary President, Sen. Francesco Amoruso; Secretary General, Amb. Sergio Piazzi, and the Permanent Observer to the UN, Amb. Shaukat Fareed.
The delegation attended, on 20-21 June, a special meeting of the UN Security Council / Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) with international, regional and sub-regional organizations, at which Hon. Pedro Roque addressed the CTC, while PAM Secretary General chaired one of the sessions. The meeting was dedicated to“International Judicial and Law Enforcement Cooperation in Counter-Terrorism matters pursuant to SC resolution 2322 (2016) and other relevant Council resolutions”.
The special meeting enabled the Committee to raise awareness among Member States, relevant international, regional and sub regional organizations, and civil society on the requirements in the resolution; to conduct dialogue and information-exchange on the main gaps and challenges encountered in implementing its provisions; to mobilize support to implement the resolution; and to obtain updated information on international efforts to implement the resolution.
The PAM delegation provided participants with an overview of the support extended by PAM’s parliamentary diplomacy efforts to the Security Council by assisting national and regional legislative bodies in facilitating and assessing the implementation of the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions. The PAM delegates also briefed participants on the activities carried out by the Assembly together with CTED and UNODC, as well as on the forthcoming conference that PAM will co-organise with the CIS-PA in Saint Petersburg next November. The conference, prepared with the support of the UN, will focus on addressing the gaps in the implementation of UNSC resolution 2178, as identified at the PAM conference in Rome last year.
In New York, the PAM delegation also had a series of high-level bilateral meetings with, inter alia, Mr. Jean-Paul Laborde, ASG/CTED; Mr Miroslav Jenca, ASG/DPA; the UNDP team dealing with capacity building and sustainable development in the MENA region; as well as the Chief of Staff and the Director of the Executive Office of the UN Secretary General.
In the course of these meetings, in-depth exchanges of views took place on the ongoing crisis in Libya and Syria, the new sources of ISIS terrorists’ financing originating in Latin America, the unprecedented migratory flows towards the Mediterranean, as well as the preparation and background information in view of the PAM high-level visit to Amman, Ramallah, and Jerusalem in mid-July.
In the course of the meetings, it was further agreed to reinforce the existing channels of communication between PAM and DPA, while a Memorandum of Understanding will be signed with UNDP next September at the margins of the UN General Assembly. The agreement will highlight cooperation for assistance to the legislative bodies in Libya, as well as critical elements of sustainable development in the region, such as climate change, energy, food security, PPP, critical investments, employment, tourism, and migrations.