PM Bakhtadze Meets with the President of the PACE

The Prime Minister of Georgia is paying an official visit to Strasbourg, within which he held a meeting with Liliane Maury Pasquier, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) earlier today.

The two officials discussed a number of significant issues, including the bilateral cooperation between Georgia and PACE, the impressive progress of Georgia in terms of democratic consolidation and reforming, the forthcoming chairmanship of Georgia of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, as well as the major challenges faced by the organization.

Bakhtadze and Pasquier strongly accentuated the current situation in the regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia), currently occupied by Russia, and multiple cases of human rights violations.

The meeting was followed by joint statements for the press, where the Georgian Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to the PACE President for the invitation and granting him a chance to address the delegates and guests of PACE. Bakhtadze also briefed then about the aspects that had been discussed at the meeting.

“During our bilateral meeting, we discussed the issues of our cooperation and we outlined the considerable progress that Georgia has made in recent years in terms of democratic consolidation and reform processes, and further cementing these achievements. We also discussed the challenges the Council of Europe is facing these days and, of course, touched on the forthcoming Georgian presidency of the Committee of Ministers. Very importantly for Georgia, for my country, I informed the President of PACE of the recent developments and gross human rights violations in the occupied regions of Georgia. From my side, I also emphasized that Georgia is ready to continue cooperation with PACE. I expressed gratitude for the Council of Europe's engagement in the reform process in Georgia, particularly through the Parliamentary Assembly, and I noted that these recommendations are important in the process of harmonizing our national practices and legislation with the European standards. We agreed to maintain a very high level of cooperation in the future,” stated Mamuka Bakhtadze.

Liliane Maury Pasquier, who is to visit Tbilisi on April 29-30 and take part in the events celebrating the 20th anniversary of Georgia's accession to the Council of Europe, focused on the successful collaboration of PACE with Georgia and praised the country for the vital reforms implemented for the past 20 years and steps made forwards to the augmentation of the level of democracy in the country.

By Ketevan Kvaratskheliya

Image source: Government of Georgia