05/03/2010 Political Affairs and Democracy
Strasbourg, 05.03.2010 - The Sub-Committee on the Middle East of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly’s (PACE) Political Affairs Committee, under the chairmanship of Lluís Maria de Puig (Spain, SOC), held a two-day meeting (4-5 March) in Izmir (Turkey) at the invitation of the Turkish delegation to PACE.
Against the backdrop of PACE Resolution 1700 (2010) on the Situation in the Middle East, the Sub-Committee decided to prepare the second session of the Tripartite Forum, bringing together the PACE, the Knesset and the Palestinian Legislative Council. The session will focus on a limited number of specific projects in areas such as economic development, environment and natural resources, and will be held in the second half of 2010. In the meantime, the Sub-Committee also decided to monitor the follow-up given by the Israeli and Palestinian sides on certain practical problems raised by participants in the course of the meeting.
During the meeting, the Sub-Committee held an exchange of views with the representatives of the Knesset and the Palestinian Legislative Council and heard statements by PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu, as well as representatives of the Turkish authorities and Turkish experts.