MADEIRA, JUNE 4, NOYAN TAPAN. The spring session of NATO Parliamentary Assembly (PA) was held on May 25-28 in Madeira (Portugal). On the invitation of S. Lan, PA Secretary General, M. Mkrtchian, Head of Armenian Mission to NATO, took part in the session as an observer. According to the data, received from RA Foreign Ministry Press and Information Department, Jose Lello, PA Chairman, Gillerme Silva, Deputy Chairman of Portugal's Parliament, Yaap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO's Secretary General, Luis Amadon, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, Nikola Gruevski, Prime Minister of Macedony and Nino Burjanadze, President of Georgian Parliament made pivotal speeches at the session. NATO's activities in Afghanistan, Russia's internal developments and foreign policy approaches, regulation of Kosovo's problem, NATO-EU practical cooperation, anti-missile defence systems, climate changes, Georgia's economic and political reforming and its accession prospects to NATO, as well as the interrelations between the state and religion in the Black See region were the key subjects of discussion in the 5 committees: Political, Defence and Security, Economy and Security, Science and Technology, Civil Dimension of Security. At the session PA Chairman for the first time clearly declared about the necessity of developing a new strategic concept paper for NATO. The next important issue that should be focused on, is the geographical inclusion of Alliance in terms of membership and partnership, as well as a more productive cooperation with UN and EU. One negative feature of the session was the sharp contrast between Russia and Alliance member countries. This was expressed in Georgia's unequivocal assistance, in the issues of Kosovo's key problem regulation, allocation of the American anti-missile system in Poland and Czek country. A part of Netherlands MP Bert Middel's draft report on "State and Religion in the Black See Region" represented the situation in Armenia. The author of the report fairly comes to the conclusion that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict had no religious origin from the beginning. The Azerbaijan deligation actively tried to prove the contrary. This report must again be discussed during PA autumn session to be held in October in Reykjavik.

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