Monday, 6 july 2009
Participation of the member of parliament Mr. Hisen Xhemaili at the 18th Annual Session of the OSCE PA
Mr. Hisen Xhemaili, Member of the Delegation of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly participated at the 18th Annual Session of the OSCE PA that was held on the premises of the Lithuanian Parliament in Vilnius from 29 June to 3 July 2009. The Assembly adopted the "Vilnius Declaration" that outlines a set of policy recommendations to the governments of the OSCE participating States and contains the 28 adopted resolutions. Among them are resolutions on strengthening the OSCE, election observation, food security in the OSCE area, the world financial crisis and the social consequences of that crisis, Iran, Afghanistan, human rights and civil liberties, arms control and disarmament in Europe, labour migration in Central Asia, energy security, climate change, water management, freedom of expression on the Internet, and a moratorium on the death penalty.
The resolution on Strengthening the OSCE calls for more transparency in the OSCE in order to enhance its legitimacy and relevance. The resolution on election observation emphasizes the importance of OSCE election observation and calls on participating States to fully implement the 1990 Copenhagen Commitments for democratic elections.
Speakers at the Annual Session included: Mr. Valdas Adamkus, President of Lithuania, Mr. Arunas Valinskas, Speaker of Parliament of Lithuania, Mr. Andrius Kubilius, Prime minister of Lithuania, Mr. Joao Soares, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Mr. Vygaudas Usackas, Foreign Minister of Lithuania, Ms Dora Bakoyannis, Foreign Minister of Greece and Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE, Mr. Robert Walter, President of the European Security and Defence Assembly/Assembly of WEU, Mr. Manuel Dos Santos, Vice President of the European Parliament and Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, OSCE Secretary General.
The Annual Session elected President Joao Soares (Portugal) to a second one-year term as head of the Assembly. It also re-elected Senator Ben Cardin (United States) as Vice-President, and elected three new Vice-Presidents, Mr. Petros Efthymiou (Greece), Mr. Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco), and Ms Isabel Pozuelo (Spain). Mr. Roberto Battelli (Slovenia) was elected new Treasurer. The Assembly’s three Committees also voted on new officers (presidents, vice-presidents and rapporteurs).