10 October 2006 - NATO PA 52nd ANNUAL SESSION TO BE HELD IN Québec City, Canada, 11-17 November 2006

The plenary session on Friday 17 will be addressed by a distinguished group of guest speakers from the Canadian government including the Canadian Minister of National Defence, Gordon O'Connor.  The session will be marked by a live satellite video link-up with the NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer.

NATO PA's five committees (Political, Defence and Security, Science and Technology, Civil Dimension of Security, Economics and Security) will meet on Tuesday 14 and Wednesday 15 and be addressed by guest speakers.

The NATO PA Session will address the major issues on the NATO agenda, notably its current operations-including Afghanistan-the challenges of enlargement, relations with partner countries, and the Alliance transformation, which is necessary to be able to address today's new security challenges. Indeed, NATO's ability to deal with these challenges will also depend upon the support of Alliance publics and parliaments.  For this reason, the November meetings in Québec City will be an important prelude to the Riga Summit of NATO Heads of State and Government, to take place on 28-29 November.

The Assembly provides a forum in which parliamentarians from the 26 NATO countries, 13 associate delegations from Central and Eastern Europe, Ukraine and Russia, 4 Mediterranean Associate delegations from Morocco, Algeria, Jordan, Israel and several Parliamentary Observer delegations meet together regularly in order to exchange views on key concerns and problems and to provide an indication of parliamentary and public opinion towards Alliance policies. 

  PROGRAMME FOR THE PRESS

Draft programme (Word 2000 format)

  PRESS CONFERENCES
* Press conferences will take place in hall 205 BC, at the Québec City Convention centre on Monday 13 November at 11:00 and on Friday 17 November after the Opening of the Plenary Session.

  INFORMATION FOR THE MEDIA
* http://www.natopa-apotan.ca/Docs_PressMedia-e.asp

  MEDIA ACCREDITATION
* Request for accreditation form
http://www.natopa-apotan.ca/Form_Accreditation-e.asp

Media representatives in Canada or abroad who wish to cover the Session meetings should complete the "request for accreditation" form (http://www.natopa-apotan.ca/Docs_PressMedia-e.asp) and send it to the address below.  For all information concerning accreditation or services available to the media also please contact:

CANADIAN PARLIAMENTARY PRESS GALLERY
Terry Guillon
Chief of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery and Media Co-ordinator
House of Commons
Room 350-N, Centre Block
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Tel: (613) 992-4511
Fax: (613) 947-2007
E-Mail: guillt@parl.gc.ca

  FOR SPECIFIC QUESTIONS REGARDING NATO PA PLEASE CONTACT

NATO PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY INTERNATIONAL SECRÉTARIAT
Andrea Cellino, Deputy to the Secretary general for Partnerships and External Relations
Roberta Calorio, co-ordinator
Phone : + 32(0)2 50 48 154
Fax : + 32 2513 59 23

Place du Petit Sablon 3, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Switchboard: + 32 (0) 2 513 59 23
website: http:// www.nato-pa.int

News and information is routinely places on the NATO PA website. Check the 'Latest News' File