INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION ASSISTANT SECRETARY-GENERAL MEETS MR. SPEAKER.

Ms Christine Pintat, Assistant Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) on Friday met Mr Speaker, the Hon Anton Tabone, in his office at The Palace, Valletta.

Ms Pintat is on a brief visit to Malta to discuss with the IPU National Group of Malta the future establishment of a Parliamentary Assembly of Mediterranean States within the Conference for Security and Co-operation in the Mediterranean (CSCM). The Malta IPU Group, which is presided over by Mr Speaker, and composed of the Hon Helen D'Amato and the Hon George Vella, suggested that following the 104th IPU Conference in Jakarta in October, Malta would host an ad hoc committee meeting of the CSCM, which would be another step towards the establishment of an institutionalised CSCM Process within the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

The Parliamentary Assembly of Mediterranean States is foreseen to have as one of its objectives that of facilitating and encouraging inter-parliamentary understanding and the enhancement of the political dialogue among participants, that shall lead to the promotion of cooperation in the political, econmic, social and environmental fields in the Mediterranean space.

During the course of the discussions Mr Speaker and the IPU Assistant Secretary General touched also on the future role of the IPU within the United Nations in the wake of the Conference of Presiding Officers of National Parliaments which was held in New York earlier this month.