The European Parliament’s interparliamentary delegations - together with the Foreign Affairs, Development, and International Trade Committees - constitute a specific instrument in the external affairs activities of the European Union. Their main task is to maintain and develop the Parliament’s international contacts by providing specific expertise in the form of practical knowledge and political understanding of situations, and of individuals, in the countries and regions for which they are responsible. Over the past years the role of interparliamentary delegations has become increasingly important, effectively becoming a form of parliamentary diplomacy.
The EPP Group as the largest political group in the European Parliament has the greatest number of Members involved in interparliamentary delegations, and holds the Chairmanships of 16 standing Delegations as well as the co-Chairmanship of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat).
I am convinced that their contribution will enable us to further exploit the potential of interparliamentary delegations to enhance the parliamentary dimension of the EU’s external action, thereby bringing added value to our parliamentary work.

PRESS RELEASES

24/04/2009	Reforms are precondition for successful development. Doris Pack MEP
09/04/2009	A victory for Economic Partnership Agreements between the EU and developing nations. Jürgen Schröder MEP
03/03/2009	Korean culture in the European Parliament. Hubert Pirker MEP
22/02/2009	Closer cooperation between the EPP-ED Group and Saudi Arabia
21/02/2009	Belarus: EPP-ED delegation returns from Minsk - human rights situation still worrying. Christopher Beazley MEP, Laima Andrikienė MEP and Jacek Protasiewicz MEP

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JOINT PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES (JPC)

Joint Parliamentary Committees are based on association agreements or stabilisation and association agreements and exist with candidate and applicant countries in Europe (Croatia, FYROM, Turkey), as well as with two non-European countries, Chile and Mexico. A European Economic Area (EEA) Joint Parliamentary Committee is established in accordance with the EEA Agreement.
	Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee
	Delegation to the EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee
	Delegation to the EU-FYR-Macedonia Joint Parliamentary Committee
	Delegation to Switzerland, Iceland and Norway and to the European Economic Area (EEA) Joint Parliamentary Committee
	Delegation to the EU-Mexico Joint Parliamentary Committee
	Delegation to the EU-Chile Joint Parliamentary Committee

INTERPARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLIES

Members of the European Parliament also participate in a number of assemblies of national parliamentarians. These assemblies are the Assembly of EU, African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, Euro-Mediterranean countries, Euro-Latin American countries and the NATO member countries assembly.
	Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly
	Delegation to the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly
	Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly
	Delegation to NATO Parliamentary Assembly

PARLIAMENTARY COOPERATION COMMITTEES (PCC)

Parliamentary Cooperation Committees are based on specific agreements, with the countries which are part of the "European Neighbourhood Policy" (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine) and with those with which Europe concluded Partnership and Cooperation Agreements (PCA) such as Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan.
	Delegation to EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee
	Delegation to EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Cooperation Committee
	Delegation to EU-Moldova Parliamentary Cooperation Committee
	Delegation to EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan and EU-Uzbekistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees, and for relations with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia
	Delegation to EU-Armenia, EU-Azerbaijan and EU-Georgia Parliamentary Cooperation Committees

OTHER INTERPARLIAMENTARY DELEGATIONS (IPD)

These interparliamentary delegations where established to strenghten the parliamentary dimension of our dialogue with a large number of third countries worldwide. In Europe, they have been established with Switzerland, Iceland and Norway, the Western Balkan countries, namely Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro as well as with Belarus, on a voluntary basis.
	Delegation to South Asia
	Delegation to India
	Delegation to Afghanistan
	Delegation to South-East Europe
	Delegation to Belarus
	Delegation to Israel
	Delegation to Palestinian Legislative Council
	Delegation to Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb Union (including Libya)
	Delegation to Mashreq countries
	Delegation to Gulf States, including Yemen
	Delegation to Iran
	Delegation to Iraq
	Delegation to United States
	Delegation to Canada
	Delegation to Central America
	Delegation to Andean Community
	Delegation to Mercosur
	Delegation to Japan
	Delegation to People's Republic of China
	Delegation to Southeast Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
	Delegation to Korean Peninsula
	Delegation to Australia and New Zealand
	Delegation to South Africa
	Ad Hoc Delegation for relations with the Pan-African Parliament