Press Office

The grand opening of the 28th annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly featured welcoming speeches by Mr. Fernand Etgen, President of the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg, and Mr. Xavier Bettel, Prime Minister of Luxembourg.

During the meeting of the Standing Committee of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly the heads of delegations approved the membership of the general committees, the PA budget for the 2019 — 2020 fiscal year and included additional draft resolutions in the agenda of the OSCE PA session. Sponsored by the Belarusian MPs draft resolution “Strategic Foresight for Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Development” received the support of members of the OSCE PA Standing Committee and was included in the agenda of the session. The MPs heard the reports from Mr. George Tsereteli, OSCE PA President, and Mr. Roberto Montella, Secretary General, who was reelected for a new term. The MPs also reviewed the current international political developments, the activities of the Assembly and the preparations of the forthcoming meetings in 2019 and 2020, respectively, in Morocco and Canada.

On the same day, Mr. Boleslav Pirshtuk, the Head of the Belarusian delegation, took part in the sixth meeting of the OSCE PA Silk Road Support Group and the meeting of the heads of the parliamentary delegations of the CSTO member — states in the OSCE PA to discuss the promotion of joint initiatives on key issues on the agenda of the session.

At the meeting of the OSCE PA Silk Road Support Group the MPs supported the membership application from the Uzbekistan delegation and got familiar with the draft program of the Swiss Conference which will take place in Andermatt on 5 — 7 September. Mr. Azay Guliyev, Azerbaijani MP, was re-elected as the Chairman of the group. Member of the Swiss delegation Mr. Filippo Lombardi and Head of the Serbian delegation Ms. Stefana Miladinovic were elected his deputies.