The Secretaries General of the National and Regional Parliaments of the countries bordering the
Mediterranean agreed on the unique role of International Parliaments and other Institutions
sharing the same objectives and values, for the good of the Mediterranean peoples. The
Secretaries General also expressed their concern on the current dramatic events in the region,
during a meeting hosted by the French Senate, in Paris, on 28 February 2011.
The main topics on the agenda covered, among others, the “Inter-parliamentary cooperation in
the Mediterranean Area”, “The status of National Parliaments within the Institutions” and the
“Functioning of delegations in inter-parliamentary organizations”.
The SG’s were welcomed by Mr. Alain Delcamp, Secretary General of the French Senate, who
referred to the current delicate period of transition in the region. He also recalled the cooperation
framework for the Secretaries General set up in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2009, on the occasion of the
1st PAM Secretaries General Meeting held as part of the IV PAM Plenary Session, with the
objective of constructing a shared area of peace and prosperity in the Mediterranean.
The participants were also addressed by Dr. Hanaoui Amrani (Algeria), President of the
Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). He
also presented the findings of a questionnaire sent by the PAM Secretariat to all its members,
regarding the regional collaboration between parliaments.
PAM Secretary General, Dr. Sergio Piazzi, highlighted the achievements of the Assembly and
underlined the fact that PAM is now an important facilitator for dialogue in the region, also
through its support to traditional diplomacy and its collaboration with other international and
regional organizations, such as the United Nations system, and other inter-parliamentary and
inter-governmental organisations. PAM, Dr. Piazzi added, is also taken as a model to follow by
several organisations, while at the suggestion of the IPU, PAM is assisting the Turkish
Parliament in considering and defining structures and instruments for what could become the
Parliamentary Assembly of South Eastern Europe.
The Secretary General of the Senate of Morocco, Mr. Abdelwahid Khouja, proposed a Network
of Senior Officials of the Parliaments of the Mediterranean area to promote the central role of
National Parliaments in developing a Mediterranean policy and also disseminate substantive
information on Mediterranean issues, which need also to be addressed at the national level. He
also added that PAM should be the repository of all matters pertaining to the Mediterranean, in
order to be able to transmit in a coordinated and structured manner such information to all
parliaments. He also suggested to find a way for coming towards a communities of Secretaries
General by setting up specific working groups which would help further improve the activities of
Parliaments at both the national, regional and international level. Adding on this proposal, Mrs.
Adelina Sa’ Carvalho, Secretary General of the Portuguese Parliament, said that the SG’s should
further strengthen their links and they should consider as a point of liaison for this process the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean.
Mr. Henri Guaino, Special Advisor on Mediterranean Affairs to H.E. Nicolas Sarkozy, President
of the French Republic, in his intervention, insisted that the Mediterranean must be conceived as
a world and an entity in itself, a centre rather than a European neighbourhood. He stressed the
growing demand in Mediterranean Civil Society for a better life. This, he concluded, could be
achieved if the Mediterranean area is turned into a laboratory for co-development and mutual
understanding leading to further stability, security and peace in the region, in which PAM has
indeed a key role to support such a vision.
The next meeting of the PAM Secretaries General will be held in Morocco in 2012, on the kind
invitation of the Secretary General of the Senate of Morocco, Mr. Abdelwahid Khouja.