At the 23rd Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, held from 28 June to 2 July 2014, more than 300 parliamentarians from the OSCE's 57 participating States will debate a wide range of issues that are covered by the organisation's work, and consult on a total of 21 resolutions. The programme for 1 July also features a special debate on the situation in Ukraine.
However, the real focus of this year's Summer Meeting will be the "Helsinki+40" reform process. The process is intended to further strengthen the OSCE's capacity to act from 2015 onwards – 40 years after the Helsinki Final Act which founded the OSCE's forerunner organisation. The President of the Swiss Confederation, Didier Burkhalter, the Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE, will speak to the members of the Parliamentary Assembly at the opening of the Summer Meeting. His address will include a review of the reform process, the advancement of which is one of the priorities of Switzerland's Chairmanship of the OSCE.
The Swiss parliamentary delegation to the OSCE attaches great importance to the Helsinki+40 reform process. In 2012, the delegation helped to launch a "Declaration of Intent" to play an active part in shaping the reform process from the parliamentary side. Four members of the Swiss parliamentary delegation to the OSCE will be attending the meeting in Baku: National Councillor Andreas Aebi, Chair of the Swiss Delegation, Delegation Vice-Chair and Councillor of State Christine Egerszegi-Obrist, and National Councillors Ida Glanzmann-Hunkeler and Margret Kiener Nellen.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, which has its International
Secretariat in Copenhagen, brings together parliamentarians from the 57 OSCE participating States and is intended to facilitate interparliamentary dialogue. It adopts declarations and resolutions on all issues which fall within the scope of the OSCE's work. The positions taken by the parliament stimulate discussions within and the work of the OSCE itself while also providing recommendations for action on the part of national parliaments. The Parliamentary Assembly also has an important role in observing elections.
The assembly, which has been presided over by Ranko Krivokapic of Montenegro since 2013, convenes three times a year: for its Winter Meeting in February in Vienna, its Summer Meeting or Annual Session in July in the capital city of an OSCE participating State, and in the autumn again in the capital of one of its participating States. This year's Autumn Meeting will be held in October 2014 in Geneva.
Further information:
FDFA web dossier on the OSCE,Swiss Chairmanship of the OSCE on Twitter
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