President Saakashvili will address a formal sitting of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on November 23.

His address is scheduled for 3pm Tbilisi time.

In an interview with Le Figaro ahead of his speech, Saakashvili said that during the address he would call on Russia for a dialogue without preconditions and also said that in his speech he would make a commitment to non-use of force. He said that such unilateral commitment made by a country, whose territories remain under occupation, was “a controversial” move, since every country has the right to defend its sovereignty, including through military means. “But I see things differently,” he said, adding that Georgia could not end up like Afghanistan or Chechnya.

Saakashvili said on November 19 that he was the only President of non-EU member state to be honored with an opportunity to address the European Parliament twice. He first addressed MEPs in November, 2006.

"It happens not because there is a special attention personally to me, but because of support of Europe and rest of the world towards Georgia," Saakashvili said.

Georgia’s one of the key priorities in respect of the European Parliament, officials in Tbilisi say, is adoption of a resolution in which Abkhazia and South Ossetia will be referred to as “occupied territories.”

In May, 2010 the European Parliament was considering using term “occupied territories” in its resolution on South Caucasus, but the term was removed from the draft and not included in the final text adopted on May 20.