Participation of the PABSEC in the 22nd Winter Session of the OSCE PA, Vienna, 23-24 February 2023
On 23-24 February 2023, Mr. Asaf Hajiyev, PABSEC Secretary General, took part in the 22nd Winter Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Vienna. The session was attended by nearly 250 parliamentarians from 52 member countries.
At the beginning of the Session, a minute of silence was observed in memory of the victims of the war in Ukraine and the 47,000 people who died as a result of the devastating earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria.
Mr. Wolfgang Sobotka, President of the Austrian National Council, and Ms. Margareta Cederfelt, President of the OSCE PA (Sweden) spoke at the opening of the event. Mr. Bujar Osmani, OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia, addressed the participants via videoconference.
The main topic of the General Debate of the Session was “One Year In: Russia’s Continued Full-Scale War on Ukraine”. During the discussions, parliamentarians from the OSCE countries expressed their solidarity with Ukraine and strongly denounced the military actions of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine.
There were separate meetings of the OSCE PA Committee on Political Affairs and Security, the OSCE PA Committee on Democracy and Human Rights and the OSCE PA Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and the Environment. As part of the meetings of the General Committees, the rapporteurs briefed the members of the Assembly on the preliminary draft reports and resolutions that will be presented at the annual session of the OSCE PA in Vancouver (Canada) in July 2023.
On the sidelines of the event, the PABSEC Secretary General met with Ms. Margareta Cederfelt, President of the OSCE PA, and Mr. Roberto Montella, Secretary General of the OSCE PA. The issues of further cooperation between the two organizations were discussed. The PABSEC Secretary General informed about the upcoming PABSEC General Assembly in Türkiye, during which the PABSEC 30th Anniversary Celebration is planned. The PABSEC Secretary General also invited the OSCE PA Secretary General to the meeting of the Secretaries General of the PABSEC Parliaments and the organizations having observer status to the PABSEC, which is scheduled to be held in the spring of 2023.
The PABSEC Secretary General took part in an informal meeting of the OSCE PA Silk Road Group, where the prospects for further cooperation within the framework of this project were discussed.