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Deepened co-operation and permanent channels of communication between parliamentary bodies are needed to meet today’s challenges, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Mehmet Sevki Kulkuloglu told a gathering of international human rights experts in Warsaw today.

Kulkuloglu, a member of the Turkish Parliament and Vice-Chair of the OSCE PA’s Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, was speaking at the OSCE’s 2014 Human Dimension Seminar.

“The PA has sought to cultivate partnerships with regional organizations -- namely the Inter-Parliamentary Union; the European Parliament; the NATO PA; the Commonwealth of Independent States PA; and especially the PA of the Council of Europe (PACE) -- whose distinct strengths complement our own… However, our existing co-operative efforts are often based on personal contacts. Instead, permanent channels of communication should be opened and co-operation institutionalized,” Kulkuloglu said.

He highlighted the OSCE PA’s implementation of regular meetings between its secretary general and the secretaries general of the NATO PA and PACE as a mechanism that could be emulated or expanded.

More formalized and more frequent communication between the OSCE’s composite institutions would also improve the organization’s efficiency, Kulkuloglu said.

The OSCE PA Vice-Chair also participated in a discussion on co-operation between the OSCE and other international organizations in the context of the Ukraine crisis.

In the human dimension, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly co-ordinates with partner organizations in areas including election observation, electoral reform, civil liberties, rule of law and media freedom.