NATO meeting a dry run for G8 Ottawa expected to host G8 summit next summer Mike Blanchfield The Ottawa Citizen Ottawa will get a G8 warm-up this fall when the city hosts a major gathering of lawmakers from NATO countries. The NATO Parliamentary Assembly has chosen Canada's capital as the site of its semi-annual meeting from Oct. 5-9, which will attract 800 delegates from 36 countries, including the 19 alliance members. Seventeen associate member countries will also be represented, a number of them eastern European nations seeking entry to the alliance. NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson and other high-profile international political figures are expected to attend. A formal government announcement is expected today. The meetings will serve as a dress rehearsal of sorts for next July's G8 summit involving the Group of Seven leading industrialized countries, plus Russia. The G8 gathering is expected to take place on Green Island, home of the former Ottawa city hall, amid the tight security that has characterized top-level international gatherings since the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting sparked anti-globalization riots in Seattle. A large perimeter fence, similar to the controversial one erected for the recent Quebec City Summit of the Americas, remains one option for next year's summit of world leaders. "I don't think the security issues (for the NATO gathering) are going to be the same as the G8," said Nepean-Carleton Liberal MP David Pratt. The most recent NATO Parliamentary Assembly meeting was held last month in Lithuania. The assembly is made up of parliamentarians and legislators from the NATO countries. It meets twice a year and has committees that look at economic and technological issues. The assembly includes 15 Canadian MPs and senators. However, global security concerns remain the focus of the assembly's business. Issues to be discussed in Ottawa this fall include expanding NATO's membership, the ongoing turmoil in the Balkans, the proposed U.S. National Missile Defence initiative, and the creation of a European army. When NATO defence ministers gathered in Toronto in September 1999, their meetings faced only small-scale sporadic protests, largely from members of the Serbian-Canadian community still angry over the alliance's 78-day bombing campaign against Yugoslavia on behalf of oppressed ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. "We have a fabulous opportunity to show off our nation's capital to scores of American and European legislators," said Mr. Pratt. ============================================== Len Bush, National Representative National Union of Public and General Employees 15 Auriga Drive, Nepean, On, Canada, K2E 1B7 (613) 228-9800 / (613) 228-9801 [fax] www.nupge.ca / [EMAIL PROTECTED] ============================================== STOP NOVOM SVETSKOM PORETKU ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bUrBE8.bVKZIq Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: archive@jab.org T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
