The High Level Democracy Meeting of The Parliamentary Forum entitled ‘The road to democracy: role of the community of democracies’ was held between 29 June and 1 July with topics ranging from the Eastern European experience to Effective Democracy Assistance in North Africa. The meeting was followed by the VI Ministerial Conference of the Community of Democracies.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) took this opportunity to strengthen its links with key stakeholders involved in the promotion of shared values such as Democracy and Human Rights, throughout the World.
PAM Secretary General, Dr. Sergio Piazzi, addressed the participants and reiterated the Assembly’s commitment and dedication to promote the democratic universal principles which have been at the roots of the message spread by the distinguished founders of the Community, Madeleine Albright and Bronislaw Geremek.
Dr. Piazzi gave an in-depth presentation of PAM’s activities in encouraging and implementing effective Democracy assistance, in close cooperation with the UN system, notably in such historical times for the South of the Mediterranean. He shared with the High-Level representatives of PAM Member States, notably from the South, and Senior Officials from the international community, PAM’s ongoing actions in supporting democratic transition processes and in ensuring the supply of humanitarian aid following the Arab spring. ‘The Assembly monitors closely in countries such as Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria, the processes for change and is mobilizing its unique network of parliamentary democracy in the region to provide all possible assistance’, Dr. Piazzi added.
PAM Secretary General also had a series of bilateral consultations with, inter alia, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, Tunisia, Malta, and also with the UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations, to discuss the necessary steps to progress in the implementation of a number of PAM priority projects. With the Foreign Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Dr. Piazzi discussed ongoing preparations for the forthcoming meeting organized in Malta by PAM, at the request of the UN, on the process of Constitutional reform in the BiH, at the invitation of the Maltese Parliament, in December 2011.
Bilateral discussions also took place with the former President of Lithunania and former Speaker of the Seimas, H.E. Pr. Vytautas Landsbergis, with Hon. Emanuelis Zingeris, President of the CoD Parliamentary forum, with H.E. Mr. Menouar Alem, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to the EU, as well as with several Members of the European Parliament.
The High-Level participants unanimously at the Vilnius meeting welcomed PAM’s unique contribution to democratic transitions in the Mediterranean, acknowledging its longstanding experience as an invaluable tool to address current challenges in the South of the Mediterranean where peoples are calling for further coordination of the international community to implement Democracy.