The Meetings of the Working Group on the PABSEC Rules of Procedure, the Bureau of the Assembly and the Standing Committee were held on the first day of the 54^th PABSEC General Assembly.

The Meeting of the Working Group on the PABSEC Rules of Procedure was chaired by the PABSEC Vice-Chairman Mr. Eldar Guliyev. The meeting was attended by the representatives of all parliamentary delegations of 12 BSEC Member States. The amendments of the delegations of Bulgaria and Romania were discussed, however, due to the absence of consensus, the amendments were not adopted.

The 61^st Meeting of the Bureau of the Assembly was attended by the PABSEC Vice Presidents from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Russia and Serbia. The Meeting was chaired by Ms. Tsveta Karayancheva, PABSEC President, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria. The Bureau of the Assembly considered: the Minutes of the 60^th Meeting of the Bureau, held in Baku on 19 June 2019; Draft Agenda of the 54^th Meeting of the Standing Committee; Draft Agenda for the 54^th Plenary Session; Draft Program of the 54^th General Assembly; the Matters of Procedure of the 54^th Plenary Session of the PABSEC General Assembly and decided to limit the time for speeches during the General Debate by 5 minutes; the Progress Report of the Parliamentary Assembly; Information on the participation of PABSEC representatives in international gatherings in the first half of 2020. The Bureau approved the candidatures for the position of PABSEC Vice-President and appointed: Ms. Milena Lubinkovic from Serbia as Secretary of the Economic, Commercial, Technological and Environmental Affairs Committee starting with 1 March 2020, and Ms. Cristina Macovei from Moldova as Secretary of the Cultural, Educational and Social Affairs Committee starting with 1 February 2020; in addition, the Bureau decided to have the elections of the PABSEC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Organizational Matters in the framework of the 55^th General Assembly in Georgia in June 2020. It was decided to hold the next 62^nd Meeting of the Bureau in Georgia in June 2020 on a day preceding the Plenary Session.

The 54^th Meeting of the PABSEC Standing Committee was held with the participation of the heads of the parliamentary delegations of 12 BSEC member states and the members of the Bureau of the Assembly and was chaired by Ms. Tsveta Karayancheva, PABSEC President, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria. The Standing Committee approved the minutes of the 53^rd Meeting, adopted the draft Agenda of the 54^th Plenary Session of the General Assembly, approved the Report on the activities of the Parliamentary Assembly, approved the proposals of the committees on the issues that will be considered in the first half of 2020 and adopted the 2020 PABSEC Calendar. The Members of the Standing Committee took note of the information on the participation of PABSEC representatives in international events in June-November 2019, as well as the information on the receipt of contributions to the 2019 Budget. It was decided to hold the next 55^th Meeting of the Standing Committee in Georgia in June 2020 on the day preceding the Plenary Session.

The 54^th Plenary Session of the PABSEC General Assembly will be held in Sofia on 20-21 November 2019.