Spring Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, held from 17th to 20th May 2013, started with the delegations secretaries meeting, where the Draft of the Standing Committee Work was presented as well as organizational elements of gathering and activities of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in the following period.

The Plenary Meeting was opened by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Chairs Mr Hugh Bayley, Prime Minister of the Government of Luxembourg Mr Jan-Claude Juncker, Chamber of Deputies of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Mr Laurent Mosar and NATO Secretary General Mr Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Following the introductory statements, NATO Parliamentary Assembly and North Atlantic Alliance had a Joint Meeting. During the Meeting, it was talked on transition in Afghanistan, security challenges, possibilities, resources and Alliance commitments, implications for development in the Middle East and North Africa, national and institutional partnerships, with special reference to cooperation with the European Union as well as open door policy.

Within the discussion, member of the Standing Delegation of the Parliament of Montenegro to NATO Parliamentary Assembly Mr Borislav Banović spoke on the topic “Open Door Policy” and stated expectations that Montenegro would get an invitation for the membership at the next Summit of the Alliance. With regard to that, he was interested whether the criteria and conditions for full-fledged membership to the North Atlantic Alliance had been changed.  MP Banović pointed out that that the system of collective security represented the best guarantee for the stability of the Western Balkans, and presented the activities which Montenegro completed on its path to Euro-Atlantic integration.

Meetings of the Political Committee, the Committee on the Civil Dimension of Security and the Committee on Economics and Security of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly are to be hold tomorrow.

On behalf of the Parliament of Montenegro, members of the Standing delegation Mr Borislav Banović and Mr Obrad Mišo Stanišić as well as MP Vasilije Lalošević participate in the work of the gathering.

Spring Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly gathered around 300 parliamentarians from the North Atlantic Alliance and partner countries.