  |
|
|
INTRODUCTION The Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association has the honour to present its report on its participation in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s (NATO PA) 61th Annual Session in Stavanger, Norway, from October 9 to 12, 2015. The delegation was composed of Senator Joseph A. Day. PROGRAM The meeting got underway on Friday 9 October with the Secretaries of Delegation meeting. Following that meeting, the NATO PA Coordination met to discuss the plans of each Committee and the Subcommittees of each Committee to ensure no conflicts or overlap in planned activity. The Secretary General, David Hobbs, requested that we explore the possibility of more than one Committee sharing a visit so as to reduce costs and workload of the Secretariat. All Committees were asked to take that approach into consideration when planning their programs for 2016. During the discussions, it was noted that the Economics and Security Committee is planning a visit to Canada. This undoubtedly was worked out with some of our Canadian delegates at past meetings. The date indicated by the Committee was September 2016. There was a discussion as to whether this trip could be shared with the Defence and Security Subcommittee on Transatlantic Cooperation. No final decisions were made. That will be an area which must be discussed early on, with a program determined and a budget developed. BUDGET The budget was presented during the final Plenary and we learned that the “keys”, i.e. percentage share by each of the members’ countries, had been revised and the revisions approved by NATO Representatives. Our Representative in NATO, namely the Minister of National Defence, presumably would have approved this for Canada. Canada’s share of expenses in NATO has increased from 6.0915% to 6.6092%. The NATO PA follows the same percentages. Hence, there was no discussion on those revisions to the budget. The effect of the revisions on Canada is that in spite of the fact the NATO PA’s overall budget will not increase for 2016, Canada’s share of expenses will increase due to our greater percentage share from 225,314 euros to 244,463 euros; namely an increase of 19,149 euros. This will have to be covered in our NATO PA – Canada budget for the coming year. RESOLUTIONS Finally, the resolutions attached were discussed at the Committees and then at the closing plenary and were adopted. Eight individual Resolutions were passed. 1) Resolution 420 : addressing the evolving threat of terrorism 2) Resolution 421: countering Russia’s propaganda and disinformation campaigns 3) Resolution 422 : solidarity with Ukraine 4) Resolution 423 : maintaining support for the Wales summit initiatives 5) Resolution 424 : economic sanctions against Russia 6) Resolution 425 : an urgent comprehensive and unified response to crises in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA 7) Resolution 426 : strengthening security and stability through NATO’s open door and partnership policies 8) Resolution 427 : climate change and international security These resolutions can be found at www.nato-pa.int. GENERAL COMMENTS The subject most discussed was Russia’s recent escalation of military activity in Syria in support of Bashar Al-Assad. Another subject causing considerable anguish was the refugee issue. Frustration was apparent from many speakers that solutions are not being found and that the European nations that are participating in helping the refugees cannot continue to handle the situation without help from other nations. The final item of major discussion was the concern expressed by the Baltic nations (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) of Russian interference and possible aggression. The various reports adopted by the Committees and Subcommittees for 2015 reflect these concerns of NATO members. Likewise the planned studies, visits and reports for 2016 as shown in the Coordinating meeting material illustrates the continuing concerns of NATO members regarding Russia. RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that we participate in as many of the NATO PA Committee and Subcommittee meetings as would be appropriate given our budget so that we can develop expertise amongst our NATO PA - Canada members on the various Committees and Subcommittees. Canada is highly respected at the NATO PA and we can and should have members participating in as many of the planned activities and reports as possible.
Respectfully submitted,
|
|
 |