Maltese Parliamentarians address Council of Europe meeting

The Maltese Parliamentary delegation to the Council of Europe, led by the Hon John Vella and including the Hon Francis Agius, the Hon John Attard Montalto, the Hon Michael Asciak and the Hon Joe Debono Grech, attended the fourth part of the 1999 Ordinary Session of the Council of Europe, in Strasbourg.

The parliamentarians took an active part in the debates of the Assembly as well as in those of various Committees of the Council of Europe, in which they are members.

On Monday, the Hon Michael Asciak addressed the Assembly during the debate on "Biotechnology and intellectual property", where he stressed the importance of developing some new way of rewarding inventions of new aspects of life forms using biotechnology without resorting to the current legal system of patenting.

During this session the Hon Joe Debono Grech was chosen by the Socialist Group to be a member of the election observation team in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The Council of Europe Committee on the Environment, Regional Planning and Local Authorities accepted an invitation by the Maltese delegation to hold one of its meetings in Malta next year.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe was addressed by Mr Antonio de Almeida Santos, President of the Parliament of Portugal, prior to an urgent debate on the situation in East Timor.

Other personalities who addressed the Assembly were Mr Milo Djukanovic, President of Montenegro; Mr Donald Johnston, Secretary General of the OECD; and Mr '?sgrimsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland and Chairman-in-Office of the Committee of Ministers.

During this part-session elections for a commissioner for Human Rights in the Council of Europe and for a judge of the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of the Russian Federation were held.

The Hon Francis Agius, on behalf of the Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development, spoke during the debate on the "OECD and the world economy". He said that the Assembly welcomes the OECD's determination to promote a more effective institutional framework for the agricultural and agri-food sector, both at parliamentary and governmental levels. On behalf of the Committee he presented an amendment whereby he proposed that the resolution being considered by the Assembly would make specific reference to agriculture, which is a vital sector of the economy, and that it would also recognise the notion of "multifunctionality" in agriculture. The amendment was adopted and the resolution was also adopted by the Assembly.

On Thursday, the Hon John Vella made a contribution to the debate on "Future of senior citizens: protection, participation, promotion". In his speech, the Hon Vella listed the various initiatives that our country has taken with the aim of protecting and encouraging retired or elderly people. Amongst others he mentioned the University for the Third Age which, he said, has proved very successful.