Tuesday 16 November 2010 - Summary of the Plenary Sitting - Annual Session, Warsaw

The sitting was opened at 9.05 a.m. on Tuesday, 16 November 2010, with Hon. John Tanner (United States ), President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, in the Chair.

1.   Opening of the Sitting

The President declared the 56th Annual Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly open.

2.   Address by Hon. John Tanner, President of the Assembly

The President addressed the Assembly.

3.   Address by Mr Grzegorz Schetyna, Marshal of the Sejm

Mr Schetyna addressed the Assembly.

The President thanked Mr Schetyna.

4.              Address by Mr Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland

Mr Tusk addressed the Assembly.

The President thanked Mr Tusk.

5.                Address by Mrs Jadwiga Zakrzewska, Head of the Polish Delegation to the NATO PA

Mrs Zakrzewska addressed the Assembly.

The President thanked Mrs Zakrzewska.

6.   Address by Ambassador Janez Lenarcic, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, followed by a question and answer period

Ambassador Lenarcic addressed the Assembly and answered questions from Sven Mikser (Estonia ), Assen Agov (Bulgaria ), Raynell Andreychuk (Canada ), Madeleine Moon (United Kingdom ), Styopa Safaryan (Armenia ), Peter Bottomley (United Kingdom ), and Francis Hillmeyer (France).

The President thanked Ambassador Lenarci

7.  Address by Ambassador Marcie B. Ries, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multilateral, Nuclear and Strategic Policy, United States Department of State, followed by a question and answer period

Ambassador Ries   addressed the Assembly and answered questions from Leonard Demi (Albania ), Jan Arild Ellingsen (Norway ), Assen Agov (Bulgaria ), Philippe Vitel (France), Rainer Stinner (Germany ), Heikki Holmas (Norway ), Juozas Olekas (Lithuania ), Andrzej Galazewski (Poland ) and Francesco Bosi (Italy ).

The President thanked Ambassador Ries.

8.              Message from Mr Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Secretary General of NATO and Chairman of the North Atlantic Council

A recorded message from Mr Anders Fogh Rasmussen was broadcast to the Assembly.

The President made a statement on the broadcast by the Secretary General.

Birgitta Jonsdottir (Iceland  ) made a statement on the broadcast.

9.   Statement from Mr Bronislaw Komorowski, President of Poland, delivered by General Stanislaw Koziej, Head of the National Security Bureau

A statement from Mr Bronislaw Komorowski, President of Poland, was delivered by General Stanislaw Koziej.

The President thanked the President of Poland and General Koziej.

10.        Election of the President of the Assembly

There being only one nomination for the post of President of the Assembly, Dr Karl A. Lamers (Germany ) was elected by acclamation.

The President-Elect addressed the Assembly.

11.   Election of Vice-Presidents of the Assembly

There being five nominations for the positions of Vice-President, Petras Austrevicius (Lithuania), Hugh Bayley (United Kingdom), Mike Ross (United States), Jadwiga Zakrzewska (Poland) were elected and Jean-MichelBoucheron (France), was re-elected by acclamation in accordance with Article 6, paragraph 5 of the Rules of Procedure.

The President thanked Assen Agov, Jane Cordy, Sven Mikser and Hendrik Jan Ormel, the outgoing Vice-Presidents, for their contribution to the work of the Assembly.

Assen Agov (Bulgaria  ), a Vice-President of the Assembly, took the Chair.

12.   Presentation by Jane Cordy, on behalf of Pierre Claude Nolin, Treasurer of the Assembly, and Vote on the draft Budget of the Assembly for 2011 [118 FIN 10 E rev. 1 bis]

Jane Cordy (Canada  ) presented the draft Budget for 2011 on behalf of Pierre Nolin (Canada ).

The draft Budget of the Assembly for 2011 [118 FIN 10 E rev. 1 bis] was agreed to.

The Vice-President thanked Jane Cordy.

13.   Vote on the draft amendments to the Financial Regulations [233 SC 10 E]

The Vice-President submitted to the Assembly for final approval the draft amendments to the Financial Regulations, as approved by the Standing Committee.

The amendments to the Financial Regulations were approved.

The sitting was suspended between 12.45 p.m. and 2.40 p.m. and resumed with Vahit Erdem (Turkey  ), a former Vice-President of the Assembly, in the Chair.

14.          Presentation by Simon van Driel, General Rapporteur of the Economics and Security Committee, of the draft Resolution Building a More Stable and Prosperous International Order submitted by the Committee; debate and Vote on the draft Resolution [243 ESC 10 E rev. 1]

Simon van Driel (Netherlands  ) presented the draft Resolution.

The draft Resolution Building a More Stable and Prosperous International Order [243 ESC 10 E rev. 1] was adopted.

15.   Presentation by Mr Jan Arild Ellingsen, Chairman of the Science and Technology Committee on behalf of Hon. David Scott, General Rapporteur, of the draft Resolution Partnering with Russia on WMD Security and Missile Defence submitted by the Committee; debate and Vote on the draft Resolution [245 STC 10 E rev. 1]

Mr Ellingsen (Norway  ) presented the draft Resolution.

Giovanni Torri (Italy  ) spoke.

Mr Ellingsen replied.

The draft Resolution Partnering with Russia on WMD Security and Missile Defence [245 STC 10 E rev. 1] was adopted.

16.   Presentation by Ulla Schmidt, Member of the Committee on the Civil Dimension of Security, of the draft Resolution Incorporating UN Security Council resolution 1325 on Women and Peace and Security into NATO's New Strategic Concept and into Alliance Policies and Practices submitted by the Committee; debate and Vote on the draft Resolution [232 CDS 10 E bis]

Ulla Schmidt (Germany  ) presented the draft Resolution.

Giovanni Torri (Italy  ) and Raynell Andreychuk (Canada ) spoke.

Ulla Schmidt replied.

The draft Resolution Incorporating UN Security Council resolution 1325 on Women and Peace and Security into NATO's New Strategic Concept and into Alliance  Policies and Practices [232 CDS 10 E bis] was agreed to.

17.   Sven Mikser, General Rapporteur of the Defence and Security Committee, of the draft Resolution Afghanistan Towards Transition submitted by the Committee; debate and Vote on the draft Resolution [251 DSC 10 E rev. 2]

Sven Mikser (Estonia  ) presented the draft Resolution.

Jane Cordy (Canada  ), a Vice-President of the Assembly, took the Chair.

Francesco Bosi (Italy  ) spoke.

Sven Mikser    replied.

The draft Resolution Afghanistan Towards Transition [251 DSC 10 E rev. 2] was adopted.

18.   Presentation by Lord Jopling, General Rapporteur of the Committee on the Civil Dimension of Security of the draft Resolution The Situation in Georgia submitted by the Committee; debate and Vote on the draft Resolution [254 CDS 10 E rev. 1]

Lord Jopling (United Kingdom  ) presented the draft Resolution.

Paragraph 1 was agreed to.

Petras Austrevicius (Lithuania  ) moved Amendment No. 1, as follows:

After paragraph 1, insert the following new paragraph:

“Acknowledging the significant contribution of Georgia to the NATO mission in Afghanistan ”;

Lord Jopling replied.

Amendment No. 1 was agreed to.

Paragraphs 2 to 15 were agreed to.

The draft Resolution The Situation in Georgia [254 CDS 10 E rev. 1], as amended, was agreed to.

19.   Presentation by Raynell Andreychuk, General Rapporteur of the Political Committee, of the draft Resolution The Increasing Importance of NATO Partnerships submitted by the Committee; debate and Vote on the draft Resolution [248 PC 10 E rev. 1]

Raynell Andreychuk (Canada  ) presented the draft Resolution.

The draft Resolution The Increasing Importance of NATO Partnerships [248 PC 10 E rev. 1] was adopted.

20.          Closure of the Session

The Vice-President thanked Mrs Jadwiga Zakrzewska, Head of the Polish Delegation, her staff, the staff of the Sejm and Senate, the International Secretariat, the interpreters, the security staff and all the others who had helped the session run so smoothly.

The Session was closed at 3.30 p.m.

______

Whenever available,  speeches can be found here