MK Amir Peretz (Hatenua) was unanimously re-elected on Friday as deputy president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM).  
 
PAM also presented MK Peretz and former MK Majallie Whbee with an award in recognition of their activity in the organization over the past few years.
 
Following his re-election, MK Peretz said “this is an important moment in strengthening the international status of Israel in general and of the Knesset in particular. This is an opportunity to promote economic and political issues in a framework [whose members represent] all the region’s countries, including Arab countries.” MK Peretz urged PAM to help bolster relations between Israel and the Palestinians.
 
Speaker of the Knesset Yuli—Yoel Edelstein (Likud) congratulated MK Peretz and said “the Knesset’s accomplishments in parliamentary assemblies around the world change the voting patterns which are at times hostile towards the State of Israel, and positively influence global public opinion.”
 
MK Eytan Broshi (Israeli Labor) is also taking part in PAM’s 13th Plenary Session, which is being held in in Belgrade, Serbia.  
 
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean is the principal forum where the national Parliaments of the Euro-Mediterranean region deliberate “to reach those strategic objectives towards the creation of the best political, social, economic and cultural environment and conditions for the fellow citizens of the member states,” states the organization’s website.
  
PAM is an international organization, an Observer at the General Assembly of the United Nations, with a specific international juridical status. The Assembly plays a “fundamental role as the inter-parliamentary organization whose activities are firmly rooted as the instrument of parliamentary diplomacy also to support the work of other international bodies entrusted with the responsibility to foster security, stability and peace in the Euro-Mediterranean region.”