THE PRESIDENT IN BARCELONA AND STRASBOURG

THE PRESIDENT IN BARCELONA AND STRASBOURG

H.E. Prof. Guido de Marco, President of Malta, leaves Malta on Sunday 25^th June for Barcelona, Spain, where he will be the keynote speaker at a conference organised by the United Nations Association of Spain before heading for Strasbourg to address the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly.

In Barcelona, the President will address the opening session of the conference entitled "The United Nations in the 21^st Century" on Monday 26^th June. The conference is being held at the Centro de Estudios Internacionales of Barcelona, which was founded by the University of Barcelona, the Spanish Foreign Office and the bank La Caixa, and will debate the future of the United Nations. The President's address will be followed by two round table discussions with the participation of experts on the reform of the United Nations, university lecturers and representatives of public institutions including the Town Hall of Barcelona, the Government of Catalonia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain.

The President will then proceed to Strasbourg where, on Tuesday 27^th June, he will address the third part session of the 2000 Ordinary Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe which will be held between 26^th and 30^th June.

Prof. de Marco is no newcomer to the Council of Europe where he served as member of the Parliamentary Assembly for almost 20 years from 1967. He served as member and rapporteur on several occasions of the Legal Affairs Committee and Vice President of the Committee on Rules of Procedure. Between 1996 and 1998 he was re-elected by the House of Representatives as a member of Malta's delegation to the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly during which time he was elected Chairman of the newly constituted Monitoring Committee.

In Strasbourg, the President will have meetings with the President of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly Lord Russell-Johnston, who visited Malta last November, the Chairman of the Ministers' Deputies Ambassador Pietro Ercole Ago, and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Mr Walter Schwimmer. The President will also visit the European Court of Human Rights where he will meet the President of the Court Mr Luzius Wildhaber.

The President returns to Malta on Wednesday 28^th June. Dr George Hyzler will be Acting President.