Press Release from the Secretariat Meeting held in Vientiane/Lao PDR 25-26 November 2019

The Secretariat meeting of the World Peace Council took place successfully in the capital of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Vientiane on 25th and 26th November 2019, hosted by the Lao Committee for Peace and Solidarity (LCPS) in excellent conditions. It was after more than 35 years that the WPC held constitutional meetings in the Lao PDR.               The Meeting was attended by eleven (11) out of thirteen (13) Secretariat members, namely by the 

 Brazilian Center for the Solidarity of the peoples and Struggle for Peace (CEBRAPAZ),   Greek Committee for International Détente and Peace (EEDYE)  Cuban Movement for Peace and Sovereignty of the Peoples (MOVPAZ)  US Peace Council (USPC)  Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation (CPPC)  Cyprus Peace Council (CPC)  Palestinian Committee for Peace and Solidarity (PCPS)  Syrian National Peace Council (SNPC)  South African Peace Initiative (SAPI)  All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation (AIPSO)  Nepal Peace and Solidarity Council (NPSC)

The WPC meetings were welcomed by the President of LCPS Somphan Phanegkhamy and the Vice-President Alounxay Sounalath in the respective meetings. The WPC Secretariat attended, as guests, the WPC members from Asia &Pacific region, besides the Organisations from India and Nepal, also the ones from Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Philippines, DPR Korea, Vietnam and the host Organisation from Laos, who held their regional meeting on 24th November in Vientiane. A separate regional communiqué has been issued on this occasion. The President of WPC Socorro Gomes held a speech at the beginning of the meeting while the General Secretary Thanassis Pafilis presented his Report to the Secretariat. Both documents will be published as introductory documents of the meeting.  The Meeting discussed as well the reports of the five Regional Coordinators from Africa (SAPI), Americas & Caribbean (MOVPAZ), Asia &Pacific (NPSC), Europe (CPPC) and Middle East (PCPS) along with special reports on the WPC website and the work of the WPC at the UN offices in New York and Geneva. During the meeting the participants had the chance to visit important historical and political sites in Vientiane and were received, during a Courtesy Call visit, by H.E. Xaysomphone Phomvihan, President of the Lao Front for National Development and Member of the Political Bureau of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party.  An important session was held during the WPC meeting when the LCPS informed about the consequences of the Unexploded Ordnances (UXO) from the 3 millions tons of bombs which the USA had dropped on Laos during their dirty war against Vietnam. Laos with approximately 3 million population at that time was the most heavily bombed country in the world.
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The Secretariat decided to hold its next Executive Committee Meeting in Cyprus on 30th and 31st March 2020, where amongst other topics also the venue and date of the next World Assembly of the WPC will be discussed and decided. In a first discussion the participants of the meeting welcomed the preliminary readiness of the Vietnam Peace Committee to host the next WPC Assembly tentatively in the first months of the year 2021 in Vietnam. The WPC Secretariat discussed organizational and financial matters and concluded successfully with the adoption of the following Plan of Actions for the coming period.

Plan of Actions

 To support and participate in the anti-NATO rally in London on the occasion of the NATO summit and 70th anniversary under the WPC campaign «Yes to Peace-No to NATO»  To observe the birth centenary of the historical leader of the WPC Romesh Chandra in January 2020 in Raipur/India, organized by AIPSO India  To support the International Conference for Peace, Friendship and Cooperation to be held on 27th-28th February 2020 in Kathmandu and organized by NPSC Nepal  To organize together with the US coalition against US foreign Military Bases the Cyprus International Conference against Imperialism (https://antiimperialistconferencecyprus.org/) on 28th and 29th March 2020 in Larnaca/Cyprus, hosted by the Cyprus Peace Council  To hold the Executive Committee of the WPC in Cyprus on 30th and 31st March 2020  To support the International Conference for the challenges of the proclamation of Latin America& Caribbean as one of Peace, in Havana/Cuba from 27-29 April 2020, organized by MOVPAZ Cuba  To hold the African Regional Meeting n Johannesburg/South Africa in May 2020  To endorse the event commemorating the 47th anniversary of the WPC Juliot Currie award to Bangabandu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 23rd May 2020  To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the WPC (Warsaw 1950) in Dhaka/Bangladesh hosted by the BPC on 24th -25th May 2020  To explore with the Japan Peace Committee the holding of a WPC/JPC event in Hiroshima during the events of 75th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima/Nagasaki  To hold the European regional Meeting of the WPC in Lisbon/Portugal in October/November 2020  To explore the possibility for an international solidarity mission to Palestine Furthermore the WPC shall observe the following important issues and anniversaries: 

 To observe the 70th anniversary of the Stockholm Appeal (March 1950)  The Global day of Action in solidarity with the people of Venezuela on 19th April 2020  The 75th anniversary of the anti-fascist victory of the Peoples on 9th May 2020  To observe the 75th anniversary of the UN Founding Charter (26th June 1945)  The 6th& 9th August as Hiroshima-Nagasaki day and spread the demand for the total abolition of all Nuclear Weapons and closure of all Foreign Military Bases  To observe the International Day in solidarity with the victims of Agent Orange (10th August) The Secretariat of the WPC adopted as well special resolutions in solidarity with the peoples of Palestine, Syria, Cyprus and Korea which shall be published and disseminated along with the Press Release, the Regional Communiqué and the introductory documents of the meeting.