6 July 2007 - NEW PARLIAMENTARIANS IN HIGH-LEVEL BRIEFINGS AT NATO AND SHAPE [press release]

The intensive series of meetings is the Assembly’s eighth New Parliamentarians Programme, aimed at legislators who are new to parliament or who have recently become involved in their parliament’s Committees or delegations which deal with international relations and security.

The Programme is open to legislators from member countries as well as PfP countries and nations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), but this is the first time that the programme has been opened to legislators from Afghanistan and Pakistan.  In welcoming their involvement, Assembly President José Lello (Portugal) said, “The New Parliamentarians Programme is one of the Assembly’s success stories.  It provides participants with excellent, up-to-date information about NATO which helps them perform their tasks as parliamentarians.  Parliamentarians approve defence budgets and authorize the use of their armed forces in operations.  They are also key participants in their own national debates on foreign affairs and international security.  This Programme ensures that they are well-informed about NATO and – equally importantly – it allows legislators to express their own concerns and perspectives directly to the most senior NATO officials”.

Participants will meet NATO's Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, and the Supreme Allied Commander, General John Craddock, as well as several NATO Ambassadors, Assistant Secretaries General, and other top officials.

Legislators from 17 parliaments are participating.  These are: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Serbia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Assembly of Kosovo, Jordan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.