Brussels, 02/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - A press release has indicated that the President of the European Parliament Josep Borrell will be making an official visit to Algeria on 6-8 March. The communiqué also indicated that this will be his first visit to the region since he became president of the Euromed Parliamentary Assembly. Mr Borrell is expected to meet President Bouteflika, Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia, Foreign Minister Mohamed Bedjaoui, the President of the Nation Popular Assembly Amar Saadani and the President of the Council of the Nation Abdel Kader Bensalah. President Borrell will be making a speech to the members of the two Houses of the Algerian Parliament and will also be meeting representatives of civil society, the unions and Non-Governmental Organisations.
The Euromed Parliamentary Assembly will hold its next plenary at the end of March in Brussels. This session will be preceded by a meeting on 6 March in Brussels of its committee on politics, security and human rights, which will discuss the following themes: freedom of expression and respect for religious belief; follow-up to the Euro-Mediterranean Summit on 27-28 November in Barcelona; results from the Palestinian elections on 25 January with MEPs Véronique De Keyser (Belgian Socialist), the president of the EU Electoral Observers Delegation, Edward McMillan-Scott (British Conservative).