Ivanishvili Visits Strasbourg to Address PACE
Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 22 Apr.'13 / 00:41

Georgia's PM Bidzina Ivanishvili is visiting Strasbourg on April 22-24 where he will address the spring plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE) on April 23.

His address will be followed by question and answer session with lawmakers from the Council of Europe member states, according to the Georgian PM's office.

President Saakashvili addressed PACE and responded questions of its members on January 21.

During the visit in Strasbourg, PM Ivanishvili will hold series of bilateral meetings, including with his Romanian counterpart Victor Ponta, who will also address the PACE session.

According to PM's office, Ivanishvili will also meet Jean-Claude Mignon, PACE President; Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland; President of the European Court of Human Rights Dean Spielmann; Venice Commission President Gianni Buquicchio; Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks; Secretary General of Congress of Local and Regional Authorities Andreas Kiefer.

He will also meet chairperson of ALDE group in PACE, Anne Brasseur; two of Georgian Dream coalition parties, Republican Party and OGFD are affiliated with Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). Ivanishvili also plans a meeting with vice-chairperson of Socialist Group in PACE, Nataša Vučković. Ivanishvili said recently that his Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party would like to be allied with the Party of European Socialists.

MP Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the Russian Duma's foreign affairs committee and head of Russian delegation in PACE, said that Russian lawmakers would ask PM Ivanishvili during his appearance before the PACE session about his government's policy towards Russia.

"We are going to ask him a question about to what extent he is going to change Georgia's foreign policy in particular towards Russia, because so far all the official statements of the Georgian authorities are in line with policies, which were carried out by Saakashvili," RIA Novosti news agency quoted MP Pushkov.

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