PAM Plenary Session: Bucharest,15-16 February

Bucharest hosts on 15-16 February the 12th Plenary Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM).

Among the objectives of the meeting are identifying and addressing the vulnerabilities created by political conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa, managing migration issues, combating new forms of terrorism and organized crime, or protecting the universal cultural heritage.

Romania is a full member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean from 2017, and Senate Speaker Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, who today opened the meeting in Bucharest, insisted on the dimension of interparliamentary cooperation and the consolidation of diplomacy of this kind.

Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu: Parliamentary diplomacy will play an increasingly important role in the management of global affairs in the future, because it is not and does not intend to be a diplomacy of urgency or coercion, but a diplomacy of dialogue and consensus.

RRA Reporter: Romania's Foreign Minister Teodor Meleşcanu said that Romania wants to play a role in solving the political crises in the region, but at the same time it militates to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the states.

Teodor Meleşcanu: Romania stands alongside all the states that are directly confronted with the terrorist scourge and are making huge efforts to eradicate this phenomenon with terrible implications. We think of Egypt, hit by two extremely bloody attacks at the end of 2017, with victims both Muslim and Christian, which proves that terrorism has no religion.

RRA Reporter: Peace and stability are the key to prosperity in the whole Mediterranean region - Pedro Roque, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, stressed in his speech, reminding that the fight against terrorism, the political developments in the Middle East and North Africa or migration are the main objectives of the organization.

Pedro Roque: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean discusses these subjects frequently with the precious agreement of its partners, such as the UN, the EU or other international bodies and financial institutions that share the same values. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean is part of the equation to identify solutions, and we, as parliamentarians, have the mandate to promote legislation that improves the lives of citizens in the Mediterranean area.

Source:RRA.Translated by Miruna Matei