COPENHAGEN, 17 November 2022 – Around 200 parliamentarians from 52 countries are expected to participate in the 20th Autumn Meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly from 24 to 26 November in Warsaw. Taking place at at Poland’s Parliament, the meeting will include an inaugural session featuring high-level speeches from host officials, including Speakers of the Parliament and the Foreign Minister of Poland and Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE, as well as a Parliamentary Conference held under the theme “The War in Ukraine: The Role of the OSCE and National Parliaments.”
Beginning 9:30 a.m. on 24 November, the inaugural session will include speeches by Marshal of the Sejm Elzbieta Witek, Marshal of the Senate Tomasz Grodzki, and OSCE PA President Margareta Cederfelt. Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE and Foreign Minister of Poland Zbigniew Rau, as well as a Ukrainian government representative, are expected to address the session by video link.
Session 1 of the Parliamentary Conference will focus on lessons learned from the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine, including its impact on the OSCE, and will feature remarks by Head of the Delegation of Poland to the OSCE PA, Barbara Bartus; Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Marcin Przydacz; and former United Nations Crisis Co-ordinator for Ukraine, Amin Awad. The session will be chaired by OSCE PA Vice-President Pascal Allizard (France).
Session 2, taking place the afternoon of 24 November, will focus on the theme of “Promoting economic and environmental security amid the current crisis.” It will be chaired by OSCE PA Vice-President Irene Charalambides (Cyprus), and will feature addresses by Coordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities Igli Hasani; Vice-Chair of the OSCE PA Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment, Artur Gerasymov (Ukraine); President of Forum Energii Joanna Maćkowiak-Pandera; and Member of the Polish Delegation to the OSCE PA Kazimierz Kleina.
On Friday, 25 November, the Parliamentary Conference will continue with Session 3 on protecting fundamental rights in situations of armed conflict and humanitarian crisis. This session will be chaired by OSCE PA Vice-President Reinhold Lopatka (Austria), and will include interventions by Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Matteo Mecacci and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Sejm Radoslaw Fogiel.
All three sessions of the Parliamentary Conference will include an open debate and will be streamed live at www.oscepa.org. You can follow the meeting on social media with the hashtag #OSCEPAWarsaw22.
For more information about the Autumn Meeting, please click here. Media inquiries may be directed to OSCE PA Head of Communications Nat Parry, mobile and WhatsApp: +45 6010 8177, email: [email protected].
