The President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA), Goran Lennmarker, will visit Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan from 27 April to 4 May.

Mr. Lennmarker, a member of the Swedish Parliament and chairman of its Foreign Affairs Committee, is expected to encourage greater parliamentary involvement in the OSCE.

His first stop will be in Kazakhstan, which will host the OSCE PA’s Annual Session in 2008.

The OSCE PA President has voiced his support for Kazakhstan’s bid to Chair the OSCE in 2009.

The OSCE PA delegation will include Kimmo Kiljunen, member of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and of the Finnish Parliament who has led recent OSCE election observation missions to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, OSCE PA Secretary General Spencer Oliver, and Deputy Secretary General Vitaly Evseyev.

In February, Mr. Lennmarker paid a brief visit to Turkmenistan.