New Chair of NATO Committee
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly recently gathered in Warsaw for its 56th Annual Session and elected Progress Party`s spokesperson on defense and MP, Jan Arild Ellingsen as the new chairman of their Science and Technology Committee.
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The NATO Parliamentary Assembly is the inter-parliamentary organization of parliamentarians from the member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance as well as 14 associate members. The Assembly provides a forum for international parliamentary dialogue on an array of security, political and economic matters. Its principal objective is to foster mutual understanding among Alliance parliamentarians of the key security challenges facing the transatlantic partnership. Assembly discussions and debates make an important contribution to the development of the consensus that must underpin Alliance policies.
The Assembly meets twice a year in a plenary session, and Poland was the host of the autumn session this year, as the session took place in Warsaw in the period 12.-16. November 2010. Most of the Assembly`s substantive work is carried out by its 5 standing committees and 8 sub-committees. Progress Party MP Jan Arild Ellingsen which represents Nordland County was in Warsaw elected new chairman of the standing committees, namely the Science and Technology Committee.
-It’s a great honor for me to be elected as the new Chair of this important committee, and to be the first Progress Party MP holding this position. - I am looking forward to start the work in the Committee, says Ellingsen in a statement. He underlines that NATO and questions related to the broad range of issues confronting the Alliance now and in the future, is high on the agenda for the Progress Party, and emphasizes that under the Progress Party NATO will remain the cornerstone of Norway`s security and the basis of Norway`s defense policy.
The Science and Technology Committee consider both the military and civil implications of science and technology, and international environmental issues. Ellingsen is eager to start his work: - I want the committee to focus on many areas, among them the High North, and so I would like to have the Committee members visiting Norway, especially the Northern part including of course Svalbard. – There`s a lot of important research going on in this area which the committee should get to know, but I would also like to have the opportunity to provide for the establishment of an international rescue base in this area, says Ellingsen, and points out that an international rescue base is important considering the increasing activity in this area.
Learn more about the work of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly here:
Follow the work and read the reports from the Science and Technology Committee here: