The 56^th plenary sitting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organisation was held in the videoconferencing mode on 24 November. The member of the Milli Majlis, leader of the delegation to the PABSEC/ PABSEC Deputy Chair Eldar Guliyev and members of his delegation, MPs Musa Guliyev, Ramin Mammadov and Elshad Mirbashiroglu took part in the sitting.

The PABSEC Chair and Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament Konstantinos Tasoulas opened the sitting, outlined the work scope and wished the Organisation success in its endeavours.

The agenda of the sitting and the minutes of the 55^th plenary sitting of the PABSEC General Assembly were approved, the Organisation’s performance report was heard, and several administrative matters were considered first.

Then began the meetings of the PABSEC committees for Economic, Commercial, Technological and Environmental Affairs, for Legal and Political Affairs, and for Cultural, Educational and Social Affairs. All the three committees staged discussions themed ‘the role of the parliaments in countering the pandemic’.

The leader of the Azerbaijan delegation to the PABSEC/PABSEC Deputy Chair Eldar Guliyev presided over the meeting of the Committee for Legal and Political Affairs where the legal and political aspects of the aforementioned role of the parliaments were considered. A relevant draft report was put on vote and seconded.

Musa Guliyev of the Azerbaijani delegation to the PABSEC concerned himself with the social aspects of the counter-pandemic action by the parliament as he spoke at the meeting of the Committee for Cultural, Educational and Social Affairs. He said that the COVID-19 situation data on the BSEC countries gave rise, when compared to the global background, that it was now possible to evade the worst-case scenarios thanks to the regional states’ prompt response to the pandemic. However, one should stay on one’s guard and the disease control and prevention behavioural culture must be promoted and elevated continually.

Musa Guliyev drew the attention of the meeting participants to the fact that the countries of the region could turn a leaf once the pandemic is over in order to find a way out of the health-care and welfare crises caused by COVID-19, overcome the aftermath of the crises and set in motion the subsequent recovery. The pandemic has shown once again that nobody in the modern world could withstand the onslaught of a global catastrophe alone. On the other hand, the global community possesses enough resources to join the forces fighting the pandemic as well as to eliminate its consequences. The threats we may be facing in the future will only be surmountable if the world unites its forces, Mr Guliyev stressed.

The speech was followed by deliberations upon the draft report; comments and proposals were made. The draft was put on vote and seconded.

Several financial issues were addressed at the sitting, too; Moldova took over the chairmanship at PABSEC on rota.

That concluded the 56^th plenary sitting of the PABSEC.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis