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On April 17, 1996, Sejm Deputy Marshal Aleksander Małachowski received a delegation of Israeli parliamentarians.
The visitors informed the Marshal about their participation in the March of the Living, which had taken place on the size of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. They emphasised the gratitude of the Jews for the Polish people for their cooperation and their attitude in the course of the organisations of the events commemorating the victims of the Holocaust. They also asked if the Sejm could speed up the work on the act regulating the problem of Jewish property in Poland.
They also raised the question of the involvement of the parliaments of the two countries in the organisation of youth exchange. "The goal of both our nations should not be to remind each other about the negative phenomena from the past but to emphasise the positive elements, so our children could live in friendship," Marshal Małachowski said at the end of the meeting.
The visiting NATO Secretary General Javier Solana met on April 18 with Sejm Marshal Józef Zych. Solana also talked to members of the foreign affairs and defence committees of both chambers of the Polish parliament.
Zych said the talk concerned the parliament's action to bring Polish laws into line with the legislation in force in NATO member countries. He informed the Secretary General of the Alliance about the recently passed act on the Minister of National Defence, which subordinates the chief of General Staff to the Minister of Defence. They also talked about democratic civilian control over the armed forces with regard to supervision over special services.
During the meeting with senators and deputies, the Secretary General emphasised that the fundamental principle of a durable security system in Europe is that is must be built by sovereign, independent and democratic states. Solana took a positive view of Poland's efforts toward the stabilisation of the situation on the European continent, by searching good relations with its neighbours and participating in the Bosnia peace mission, among other things. He pointed to the consensus of all of Poland's political forces on the subject of the willingness to accede to NATO and the European Union.
The NATO Secretary General said that the decision on the enlargement of the Alliance had already been taken and nobody can change it now.
On April 19, a delegation from the Polish parliament ended a two-day visit to Italy's Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. The talks with Italian deputies and the regional government concerned the broadening of Polish-Italian economic relations. The Polish delegation went to Gorizia, where it studied the operation of a lorry terminal on the Italian-Slovenian border. They decided that it would be a good idea to transplant the Italian experience in building road cargorewicz, who headed the Polish delegation, said that the Italians have been encouraging Poles to build such terminals along the eastern border because they are convinced that this border will in the future be the border of the European Union.
The delegation, which also included Senator Elżbieta Solska and Deputies Tadeusz Moszyński and Andrzej Brachmański, met with a group of entrepreneurs interested in purchasing palaces and manors in Poland, a list of which is being prepared by the Treasury Agricultural Assets Agency, for conversion into hotels and other tourist facilities.
In Trieste, the Polish delegation held talks with the premier of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia regional government.
The 95th Statutory Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which now affiliates members of parliament from 133 countries, was held in Istanbul from April 15 to 20. Among the 609 delegates from 118 parliaments attending the conference was a delegation from the Polish Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union headed by Deputy Jerzy Wiatr (SLD), chairman of the group and of the delegation, member of the Inter-Parliamentary Council; Senator J.H. Chorąży (PSf the Inter-Parliamentary Council; Senator Z. Janowska (Ind.), member of the Group's presidium; Deputy M. Stolzman (UW), member of the Group's board; Senator G. Bartodziej (German Minority), Senator T. Rewaj (SLD), Deputy P. Saar (BBWR).
The conference inaugurated by Turkey's President Suleiman Demirel, adopted the following resolutions:
- "The protection of ethnic minorities as a global issue and a precondition of stability, security and peace." (Senator Bartodziej and Deputy Stolzman took the floor during the debate on this subject);
- "The preservation of world fish stocks to protect an important source of protein and guarantee the survival and continued economic viability of world fisheries," which urged the Union's members to see to the inclusion of parliamentarians in the delegations for the World Food Summit the United Nations is organising in Rome (Senator Rewaj spoke on this subject);
- The combating of terrorism - an international menace to democracy and human rights and to international peace and security and an obstacle to development; the steps needed on the national and international scale to prevent terrorist acts."
Jerzy Wiatr was one of the more than 130 speakers who took the floor in the general debate. He said that "international peace will be secure if it is based on the foundation of tolerance and good will toward others, and this must also extend to those who live among us but differ from us in terms of language, religion, cultural tradition, ethnic identity or race." He informed the assembly about the joint work on school textbooks carried out by Polish authorities together with the authorities of Germany, Israel and Russia. Jerzy Wiatr submitted a suggestion for the observance of the Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Deputy Wiatr was elected member of the 12-strong Executive Committee of the Inter- Parliamentary Union.
It was agreed that the 96th Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union would be held in Beijing form September 16 to 20, 1996. The main topics of the agenda were also adopted:
- to contribute to greater respect and protection of human rights, especially women's and children's rights, especially through education and legislation;
- countermeasures to make sure that the liberalisation and globalisation of trade do not threaten the right of access to food.
It was decided that from February 10 to 14, 1997, the Inter-Parliamentary Union will organise a symposium "Toward the partnership of men and women in political life" in New Delhi. The Conference recommended that parliaments should ensure the inclusion of MPs in government delegations for the UN conference HABITAT II (Istanbul, June 3-14, 1996).
Senator Chorąży and Deputy Ozga took part in a meeting of Christian Democratic members of parliament, which has traditionally been organised during the conference. Senator Z. Janowska attended an election meeting of parliamentarians.
Deputy Jerzy Jaskiernia (SLD) took the floor in the debate on behalf of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
On the initiative of the Polish Consulate General in Istanbul, Deputy Wiatr, Senator Chorąży, Deputy Stolzman and Senator Rewaj met with the president of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce.
At the invitation of the residents of Adampol, the Polish delegation visited this Turkish locality, in which people of Polish descent have lived since 1840.
On April 23, 1996, Sejm Deputy Marshal Marek Borowski received the visiting delegation of Latvian parliamentarians, headed by Alfred Cepanis, deputy speaker of the House.
"While voicing its aspirations to participate in the building of new Europe, Poland has never forgotten nor will ever forget to cooperate with its next-door neighbours," Borowski told his guests. The visitors voiced their appreciation for the pace of democratic and economic transformations in Poland and said it served as a good example for Latvia to follow.
Both sides agreed that close cooperation of the countries of the Baltic Sea region.