Press release of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Moscow, 7 September 1998
N° 5

Today at the Moscow Kremlin, Mr Guennady Seleznev, Chairman of the State Duma, was elected President of the 100th Inter-Parliamentary Conference by nearly 700 parliamentarians from 127 countries.

"I wish to thank the delegates from all over the world who have entrusted me with the important role of presiding over the 100th Inter-Parliamentary Conference", Mr Seleznev said after his election.

Mr Seleznev will give a press conference on Tuesday 8 September 1998 at 1.00 p.m. in the Marble Hall, building 14, wing B of the Kremlin

Action to combat the consumption and illicit trafficking of drugs and organised crime was the supplementary item which the Conference selected for its agenda by 1131 votes to 143 with 193 abstentions.

The Groups of the United Kingdom, Islamic Republic of Iran, Denmark and Japan, which had submitted proposals on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, merged their proposals into one, entitled "Parliamentary action to urge all countries to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty banning all testing of nuclear weapons, to take urgent measures to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation regime, and to work towards the eventual elimination of all nuclear weapons". The above countries asked the representative of Iran to present the new proposal on their behalf.

The Group of Iraq had previously withdrawn from the list of 10 its proposal for a supplementary item entitled "United Nations responsibility in lifting sanctions imposed on Iraq, Libya and Sudan", and at the same time the Group of Lebanon decided to withdraw its proposal entitled "Support for Lebanon in its continuous efforts to implement UN Security Council resolution 425 (on the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon) adopted in March 1978", the Group of Israel withdrew its proposal for the "Creation of an information clearing centre to facilitate the establishment of hi-tech industrial zones in developing countries (...)" and Venezuela abandonned its proposal for a "New international order".

The proposal by the Group of Egypt (on behalf of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Groups) on the "Contribution of the world's parliaments to the revitalisation of the Middle East peace process" remained unchanged.

In a combined vote on the three remaining proposals, the item proposed by the Group of Latin American countries entitled "Action to combat the consumption and illicit trafficking of drugs and organised crime" carried the day.

Although the three remaining proposals all obtained the required two-thirds majority, the proposal by the Group of Latin American countries which got the most affirmative votes (1131 for, 145 against, 193 abstentions).

The result of the vote is in line with Mr Yeltsin's remark in his inaugural address, that "Russia has experienced the dangers of growing drug addiction in the past few years. This terrible evil is a particular threat to the younger generation".

FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact in Moscow:

• IPU Press Officer: Yves Bellégo, tel. (70 95) 910 18 19/910 19 21/910 19 94 fax (70 95) 910 14 68/910 19 22
• Russian Press Officer: Guennadi Dyakonov, Deputy Director, Information Service of the Parliament, Moscow, tel. (70 95) 292 33 66; fax (70 95) 292 94 64