28 October 2010 - INTERNATIONAL LEGISLATORS TO DEBATE ALLIANCE SECURITY ISSUES AT NATO PA ANNUAL SESSION IN WARSAW

Governance challenges and preparing the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF)for transition will feature prominently on the agendas as will relations with Russia. Other issues addressed will include security in the Gulf and Arabian peninsula; Alliance cohesion; maritime security; the Western Balkans;  climate change; energy security; WMD proliferation and missile defence; the consequences of the ongoing financial and economic crisis; and United States non-strategic nuclear weapons in Europe.

The Assembly’s five Committees will be addressed on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 November by senior Polish officials such as Ambassador Jacek NAJDER, Undersecretary of State; Dr Bogdan KLICH, Minister of National Defence; Lt Gen. Mieczyslaw CIENIUCH, Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces and Dr Lukasz KULESA, Deputy Director of Strategic Analyses Department at the National Security Bureau.

International and Polish senior analysts and specialists will also brief the Committees on major security concerns. These include Dr EJ HOGENDOORN, Horn of Africa Project Director at the International Crisis Group; Frank BOLAND, Director of Force Planning at NATO, and Ambassador Jacek BYLICA, Head of NATO Weapons of Mass Destruction Centre.

The Plenary Session on Tuesday 16 November (live broadcast on the internet) will be addressed by NATO PA President, Congressman John TANNER; Donald TUSK, Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland; Grzegorz SCHETYNA, Marshal of the Sejm; and Ambassador Janez LENARCIC, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh RASMUSSEN will provide a video address presenting a comprehensive update on all the topics of the Lisbon Summit, including the latest developments regarding NATO’s new Strategic Concept.

“We are all looking forward to the outcome of the Lisbon Summit, and especially to the new Strategic Concept,” said NATO PA Secretary General David HOBBS.   “The Assembly has been closely involved in the consultations leading up this new Strategic Concept and Assembly Vice-President, Sven MIKSER (Estonia), handed the Assembly’s recommendations to Secretary General Anders FOGH RASMUSSEN personally earlier this year”

“Mr RASMUSSEN would have dearly liked to be present at the Warsaw meeting to discuss the Summit directly with members but, as on previous occasions when Session and Summit dates are just days apart, this is simply not possible. The Assembly’s next President - who will be elected at the Warsaw Session - will, however, be able to brief NATO Heads of State and Government on the Assembly’s key hopes and concerns, and NATO’s Secretary General will be participating in Assembly activities as usual after the Lisbon Summit.”

“From my exchanges with Mr FOGH RASMUSSEN, I know that as a former parliamentarian of longstanding himself, he fully appreciates the essential role played by Alliance legislators and he is wholly supportive of the work of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.”

Mr TANNER and Mrs Jadwiga ZAKRZEWSKA, Head of the Polish Delegation to the NATO PA, will give a press briefing on Friday 12 November at 11:00. In the afternoon the leaders of the member delegations and of the Russian Federal Assembly will meet in an “at 29” format (NATO-Russia Parliamentary Committee).  Professor  Adam ROTFELD, Former Foreign Minister of Poland, Co Chairman of the Polish-Russian Working Group on Difficult Matters at the Polish Institute of International Affairs, and Igor IVANOV, currently professor at Moscow State Institute of International Relations and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, will brief the Committee.

The complete programme available here