The first day of the Conference, 24th March 2013, began with meeting of Heads of Delegations of national parliaments to the EU and the European Parliament, which had the aim to develop a discussion on the Proposal for the Appointment of an Ad Hoc Audit Committee and Proposal for the fact-finding mission regarding the environment of the southern and eastern Mediterranean countries.

The hosts: the President of the House of Commons, Mr. Sean Barrett, the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mr. Pat Breen, and then chairman of the Committee for Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament, Mr. Elmar Brok, addressed the participants with words of welcome within their introductory speeches. The address of the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Ms. Catherine Ashton followed, who, within her elaboration, pointed out the current issues in the field of Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy.

In continuation of the work, the Chairman of the Parliament presented to the participants of the Conference a Proposal for the appointment of an Ad Hoc Audit Committee for the Interparliamentary Conference, and then a representative of the Cyprus Parliament presented the Proposal for the mission to establish the facts relating to the environment of the southern and eastern Mediterranean countries.

Interparliamentary Conference is aimed at providing a framework for the exchange of information and best practices in the field of the Common Foreign and Security Policy and Common Security and Defence policy, with the aim of fully informing the national parliaments and the European Parliament on these areas. The conference consists of the delegations of the national parliaments of the Member States of the European Union and the European Parliament, where national parliaments are represented by six members of the parliament, with 16 members of the parliament representing the European Parliament, while the national parliaments of the candidate countries for membership to the European Union and each European NATO members countries may be represented by a delegation of four observers.