Press release of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Geneva/Marseille, 27 March 2000
N° 1

At the invitation of the French Parliament, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is holding its Third Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Security and Cooperation in the Mediterranean (CSCM) in Marseilles, at the Hôtel de Région, from 30 March to 3 April 2000. The Conference will be chaired by Mr. Michel Vauzelle, Executive President of the French IPU Group and President of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Region. A press conference will be held at 4 p.m. on Thursday, 30 March, at the Bergasse Room, Hôtel de Région in Marseilles in the presence of Mr. Michel Vauzelle and Mr. Anders B. Johnsson, Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

The inaugural ceremony, to be held at the Hôtel de Région on Friday, 31 March 2000 at 10 a.m., will be attended, among others, by the President of the Senate, Mr. Christian Poncelet, as well as the Mayor of Marseilles, Mr. Jean-Claude Gaudin. Mr. Hubert Védrine, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, will take the floor at 5 p.m. that same day.

Established within the IPU as a forum for dialogue and negotiation between the representatives of the parliaments in the region, the CSCM is the only process in which all Mediterranean States - Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Croatia, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Malta, Monaco, Morocco, Slovenia, Spain, Syrian Arab Republic, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tunisia, Turkey and Yugoslavia - participate on equal terms, as well as two non-Mediterranean States - Jordan and Portugal - whose economic, political and strategic interests are closely bound up with those of the region.

Associate participants such as the Parliaments of the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Palestine have also been invited to the CSCM.

The Third CSCM is being held at a time of important change in the Mediterranean political context, including new developments in the Maghreb, the resumption of the peace process in the Middle East, a rapprochement between Greece and Turkey, and the lifting of the embargo against Libya, all of which encourage cautious optimism. Against this background, the Conference may help to promote renewed dialogue between the peoples living on the shores of the Mediterranean.

The agenda of the Marseilles Conference covers various aspects of the strengthening of security and the development of cooperation in the Mediterranean: regional stability, co-development, partnership, dialogue among civilisations and human rights.

On Thursday, 30 March, the Preparatory and Coordinating Committee of the Third CSCM will meet to review the preliminary draft Final Document of the Conference. A meeting of women parliamentarians from the Mediterranean region is scheduled for the same day.

Established in 1889, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, based in Geneva, currently has 139 member parliaments and five regional parliamentary organisations as associate members. It has a Liaison Office with the United Nations in New York.

Contacts and accreditation: in Marseilles, international press: Ms. Luisa Ballin, IPU Information Officer, tel. (41.79) 649.71.45 or (00 33 4) 91.57.53.82, fax (00 33 4) 91.57.53.81, e-mail lb@mail.ipu.org or cd@mail.ipu.org - local press: Ms Jacqueline Massot, Press Officer for the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Region, tel. (00 33 4) 91.57.50.97, fax (00 33 4) 91.57.51.33, in Paris, national press:Ms. Sylvie Mariage, Press Attachée of the French National Assembly, Foreign Affairs Department, tel. (00 33 1) 40.63.91.90, fax (00 33 1) 40.63.86.81, e-mail smariage@assemblee-nationale.fr