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On 15 September during the meeting of the Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies, which was held on the occasion of the International Day of Democracy in Washington, D.C., the forum adopted a Washington declaration that sets out the establishment of the Secretariat of the Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies in Vilnius.

“The Secretariat of the Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies is established in Vilnius, to guide and facilitate the activities of the Parliamentary Forum in accord with the same principles that led to the creation of the Community of Democracies itself in 2000 and those set forth in the Vilnius Declaration of 2010. The Secretariat will be committed to strengthening the effectiveness of the Community of Democracies in promoting and supporting democracy.  It will also provide multidimensional support to the leadership and members of the Parliamentary Forum especially in providing assistance to parliamentarians in new democracies and democracies facing threats to their survival,” the declaration reads.

The Secretariat will contribute significantly to the strengthening of activities of the Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies and to the consolidation of an inter-parliamentary cooperation and coordination center in Vilnius.

On 15 September, the Parliamentary Forum and its video-conference “Washington-Brussels” were attended by President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the Seimas (Parliament) of Lithuania Irena Degutienė, Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia David Bakradze, Deputy Marshal of the Senate of Poland Zbigniew Romaszewski, U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Seimas (Parliament) of Lithuania Emanuelis Zingeris, Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs for the U.S. National Security Council Samatha Powers, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis and Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, U.S. Senator John McCain, Lithuania’s  Representative in the European Parliament Vytautas Landsbergis, Members of Parliament and politicians from around the world.

The goal of the meeting in Washington, D.C. is to share thoughts on the democracy-building process in Eastern and Central Europe and in Central and South America, to discuss the future of the Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies and to take concrete steps further developing its activities.

The purpose is to eventually transform the forum into one of the most important and the most effective international instruments to ensure the promotion of democratic values, human rights and freedoms worldwide.

The Community of Democracies was established in Warsaw in 2000 at the initiative of former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Polish Foreign Minister Bronisław Geremek. It is a unique intergovernmental organization, comprised of over 100 countries. The goal of this organization is to promote and strengthen democracy and democratic institutions worldwide.

Parliamentarians from various countries met in Vilnius on 12 March 2010 and launched the Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies at the initiative of Lithuania’s Presidency of the Community of Democracies, thus enhancing the role of parliaments in promoting and strengthening democracy worldwide.

Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Seimas (Parliament) of Lithuania Emanuelis Zingeris was elected President of the Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies.

Lithuania took over the Presidency of the Community of Democracies in mid-2009 from Portugal and will chair this organization until mid-2011.