PRESS ADVISORY US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to address OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Session in Washington, DC COPENHAGEN / WASHINGTON, DC, 3 June 2005 – hundred parliamentarians from the 55 OSCE participating States will gather in Washington, DC for  the  14^th  Annual  Session  of  the  OSCE  Parliamentary  Assembly  (OSCE  PA).  The  opening Plenary Session on Friday 1 July will be addressed by senior officials including US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel,   who   in   accordance   with   established   tradition   will   also   answer   questions   from   the parliamentarians. The President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, US Congressman Alcee L.  Hastings  will  chair  the  inaugural  Plenary,  which  will  also  be  addressed  by  OSCE  Secretary General Ján Kubiš. During the meetings on 2,  3 and 4 July the Assembly’s General Committees will consider draft resolutions   addressing   current   political,   economic,   environmental   and   human   rights   issues. Honouring the origins of the OSCE, the resolutions will focus on the central theme of the 14^th Annual  Session:  ‘30  Years  since  Helsinki:  Challenges  Ahead’.  Supplementary  resolutions  on current issues and problems in the OSCE area will also be considered. In addition, the Assembly will hear reports from PA President Alcee L. Hastings, PA Secretary General R. Spencer Oliver, and PA Treasurer Jerry Grafstein (Canada). On Tuesday 5 July, the closing Plenary Session will consider the resolutions of the three Committees and  adopt a  Final Declaration. The Assembly will also elect its President and other Officers. During  a  special  ceremony  on  Friday  1  July,  the  tenth  annual  OSCE  Prize  for  Journalism  and Democracy  will  be  presented  to  a  journalist  or  group  who,  through  their  work,  have  promoted OSCE principles on human rights and democracy. All  meetings  of  the  Assembly  will  take  place  in  the  premises  of  the  JW  Marriott  Hotel  in Washington, DC. Attached  for  your  information  is  a  draft  programme  of  the  Annual  Session  and  an  application form for a press pass. For further information, representatives of the media are kindly requested to contact Press Counsellor Jan R.M. Jooren, (e-mail: [email protected], Mobile: + 45 40 41 16 41)   or   Press   Officer   Andreas   Baker,   (e-mail   [email protected])   at      the   OSCE   PA International Secretariat in Copenhagen at, Tel +45 33 37 80 40, Fax +45 33 37 80 30. The Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, created by the CSCE Summit in Paris in 1990, is the parliamentary dimension of the 55-nation Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.  The  primary  task  of  the  317  member  Assembly  is  to  facilitate  inter-parliamentary dialogue,  an  important  aspect  of  the  overall  effort  to  meet  the  challenges  of  democracy throughout the OSCE area.