The sitting begun with warm words of welcome by the Chair addressed to the Permanent Delegation of the Parliament of Montenegro to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, headed by Mr Obrad Mišo Stanišić. After that, he addressed the participants in the sitting, and thanked for the invitation to attend the meeting, which resulted in Montenegro being given the opportunity to participate in it for the first time along with parliamentarians of North-Atlantic Alliance member states.

Mr Stanišić pointed out that sending the invitation to Montenegro to the NATO membership and signing of the Accession Protocol represented very significant steps and acknowledgment of efforts made by Montenegro on its path towards the Euro-Atlantic integration. This gave a strong stimulus to Montenegro to continue with dedicated and committed work in this field, said Mr Stanišić, pointing out that the NATO member states had a true friend and partner in Montenegro, who would give full contribution to improvement of the system of collective security in the world, which was followed by applause of participants in the sitting.

 During the meeting of the Standing Committee, the subject for discussion, among other things, was the Draft Declaration on “A United and Resolute Agenda for NATO at the Warsaw Summit”, presented by the Chairperson of the Defence and Security Committee Mr Nicole Ameline, France, and Chairperson of the Political Committee Mr Ojars Eriks Kalnins, Latvia, and they also presented the upcoming activities of this body and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

The attention of participants was also focused on information on the undertaken activities regarding the preparation of the 62nd Sitting of the NATO PA which will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, in the period from 18 to 21 November 2016, as well as the preparation activities for the upcoming gatherings such as the Spring Meeting of the Standing Committee and Spring and Annual Sitting of the NATO PA in 2017.

During the day, a meeting of the secretaries of delegations was held, during which, for the purpose of successful organisation of the gathering, the participants were provided with detailed information of the organisational and technical nature, and the instructions for successful implementation of the 2016 Spring Session of the NATO PA. Furthermore, they also presented the planned activities of the Committee in the upcoming period.

The 2016 Spring Session of the NATO PA will be continued tomorrow.