The work of the meeting of the Standing Committee began with consideration and voting on the Summary of the meeting held on 20 November 2016, during the 62nd Annual Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Istanbul. This was followed by consideration of the Comments of the Secretary General of NATO, Chairman of the North Atlantic Council, Mr Jens Stoltenberg on the Policy Recommendations adopted by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in 2016.

In continuation of the meeting, the Committee members considered the draft declaration “Supporting Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic Integration“, presented by Vice President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Ms Rasa Jukneviciene from Lithuania. President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Mr Paolo Alli presented the document announcing the upcoming activities of the Assembly, which emphasised its work priorities.

They also considered the draft report on “Gender within the NATO PA”, presented by former Vice President of the NATO PA Ms Angelien Eijsink from the Netherlands, which was followed by the address by Deputy Director of the Research Institute at the German Council on Foreign Relations Dr Christian Mölling on “Burdensharing within the Alliance”, followed by discussion of participants in the meeting.

A part of the meeting was dedicated to the rights of non-member delegations of the Parliamentary Assembly, and then the participants in the meeting were presented the document titled: “Ratification of Montenegro’s Accession to NATO and the next steps to membership”, presenting the previous course of this process and the future steps.

Members of the Standing Committee paid attention to the financial documents as follows: Audit Report on the Financial Statements of the NATO PA and the NATO PA Provident Fund for the year ending 31 December 2016, which was presented by Chairperson of the International Board of Auditors for NATO Ms Lyn Sachs, followed by an update and discussion on “Financial Accountability and Transparency at NATO”.

Participants in the meeting also discussed the Secretary General’s Report on the Financial Statements for 2016, Treasurer’s Report and proposal for the allocation of the 2016 surplus and the current financial year, Management Representation Letter relating to Financial Statements for the year ending 31 December 2016, Statement on Internal Control, Audited Financial Statements for the year ending 31 December 2016, and the NATO PA Provident Fund Annual Report 2016 titled “Audited Financial Statements”.

This was followed by a part of the meeting of the Standing Committee dedicated to organisational and technical issues of the future sessions and meetings of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, with special reference to the upcoming Spring and Annual sessions, and consideration of current issues in that respect.

Delegation of the Parliament of Montenegro at the Spring meeting of the Standing Committee of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly consisted of Mr Obrad Mišo Stanišić and Mr Genci Nimanbegu. The host of the meeting was the Permanent Delegation of the Germany to the NATO PA, headed by Dr Karl A. Lamers.

The meeting of the Standing Committee of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly is attended by members of delegations of NATO member states, and Montenegro was invited to participate in its work on this occasion respecting the current moment in the process of Euro-Atlantic integration of Montenegro.

Spring meeting of the Standing Committee ended today.