Delegation of the Republic of Lithuania participated in the Winter Meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
Delegation of the parliament (Seimas) of the Republic of Lithuania participated in the Winter Meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, which was held in Vienna 19-20 February 2009. Delegation of Lithuania, which constituted of members of parliament - Vilija Alkenaitė-Abramikienė (Head of the delegation), Laimontas Dinius, Algirdas Sysas, Egidijus Klumbys - presented Lithuania as the next host for the Summer Meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, which will be hold in Vilnius, 29 June - 3 July 2009, and special cultural events during Summer Meeting. Lithuanian delegation also held bilateral meetings with parliamentarian delegations of UK, Sweden, Canada and with ODIHR Director Ambassador Janez Lenarcic. The main topic of a special debate in the Winter Meeting was "the proposal for a new European Security Architecture."
In her speech Vilija Alkenaitė-Abramikienė stressed " security can not be reduced to so called "hard security" only. Existing security architecture - the EU, NATO, OSCE and Council of Europe - is based on this comprehensive approach. Values that are defended by these organizations are of the utmost improtance to Lithuania. I have in mind: respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for sovereignty, teritorial integrity, political independence of states".
The Parliamentary Assembly originally was established by the 1990 Paris Summit to promote greater involvement in the OSCE by national parliaments in the participating States. The Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE is the parliamentary dimension of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, whose 56 participating States span the geographical area from Vancouver to Vladivostok. The primary task of the 320 member Assembly is to facilitate inter-parliamentary dialogue, an important aspect of the overall effort to meet the challenges of democracy throughout the OSCE area.
Speech of Vilija Alkenaitė-Abramikienė in the Winter Meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
