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• Speaker of Azerbaijan's Parliament elected

  The first plenary meeting of Azerbaijan's Parliament of the 6th convocation was held on March 10, Trend reports.

  The chairman, vice-chairmen of the Parliament, as well as chairmen and vice-chairmen of parliamentary committees were elected at the meeting.

  As a result of the voting, Sahiba Gafarova was elected Speaker of the Parliament.

  Born in 1955, Gafarova graduated from the Azerbaijani Pedagogical Institute of Russian Language and Literature named after M.F.Akhundov and Azerbaijan University of Languages (in English philology) with honors.

  Since 1981 to the present, she has been working at Baku Slavic University. In 2000-2004 she was dean of the faculty of Western European languages and head of the department of English philology at Western University, vice-rector for international relations of Baku Slavic University.

  Gafarova is a specialist in the theory of literature, modern Russian and American literature, the author of more than 70 scientific and educational works, programs, and study guides. She is engaged in research on gender issues in philology. Sahiba Gafarova is Doctor of Philology, professor.

• Congress President’s official visit to Georgia

  Strasbourg, 20 February 2020 – The President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Anders Knape, will pay an official visit to Georgia from 22 to 25 February 2020, organised in the framework of the Georgian chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Accompanied by Congress Secretary General Andreas Kiefer, the president will hold meetings with senior representatives of national and local Georgian institutions and authorities. The talks will focus, among other things, on the decentralisation strategy that the Georgian government has just adopted in response, in particular, to the recommendations made by the Congress following its monitoring visit in 2018. Other topics of discussion will be the priorities of the Georgian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, the Congress's co-operation with the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia (NALAG) and the Congress's co-operation programmes in the country. 

  In Tbilisi, Anders Knape will meet with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Lasha Darsalia and the Vice-premier and Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure, Mrs Maya Tskitishvili. He will also hold meetings with the Deputy Chairman of Parliament, Mr Kakhaber Kuchava, the Mayor of Tbilisi and the head of the Georgian Delegation to the Congress and President of NALAG, Mr Kakha Kaladze, and the Public Defender, Ms Lomjaria Nino.

  Meetings are also scheduled in Gori with the Mayor, Mr Konstantin Tavzarashvili, and the Governor of Shida Kartli region, Mr Giorgi Khojevanishvili.

  Meetings with the Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Mr Irakli Kobakhidze, and with the members of the Georgian delegation to the Congress will complete the visit.

   

  The Congress comprises two chambers: the Chamber of Local Authorities and the Chamber of Regions. It has 324 full and 324 substitute members, who represent more than 150,000 European local and regional authorities.

  President of the Congress: Anders Knape (Sweden, EPP/CCE), President of the Chamber of Local Authorities: Xavier Cadoret (France, SOC/G/PD), President of the Chamber of Regions: Gunn Marit Helgesen (Norway, EPP/CCE).

  Political groups: Group of Socialists, Greens and Progressive Democrats (SOC/G/PD), Group of the European Peoples Party (EPP/CCE), Independent Liberal and Democratic Group (ILDG), European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR)

   

• Official visit of the president of Congress to Georgia

  22-25 February, Georgia – The President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Anders Knape, will pay an official visit to the country. Accompanied by Congress Secretary General Andreas Kiefer, the President will meet in Tbilisi with the Mayor Kakha Kaladze, the Deputy Chairman of Parliament Kakhaber Kuchava, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Lasha Darsalia, the Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure Maya Tskitishvili, and the Public Defender Nino Lomjaria. Meetings are also scheduled in Gori with the Mayor of the city and the Governor of Shida Kartli region, as well as with the Georgian Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and with the members of the Georgian delegation to the Congress.

• Irakli Kobakhidze elected as Vice President of PACE

  Irakli Kobakhidze, a member of the Georgian Parliament, has been elected as Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

  The voting was held as part of the Winter Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg today.  The Delegation of the Parliament of Georgia, headed by Irakli Kobakhidze, participates in the session.

  19 candidates have been elected as Vice Presidents of PACE.

  Twenty Vice-Presidents are elected annually at the beginning of an ordinary session and remain in office until the opening of the next session.

  As a reminder, Georgia took over the chairmanship of Council of Europe’s (CoE) Committee of Ministers for a six-month term starting November 27.

  Georgian Foreign Minister Davit Zalkaliani will deliver a speech at the Winter Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg today.

  On January 28, President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili will address Assembly members as well. The Presidents of Georgia and the Republic of Moldova, as well as the Georgian Foreign Minister and President of the Committee of Ministers and the newly-elected Secretary General of the Council of Europe, will address PACE and answer questions.
  
  Debates on the agenda include a complementary joint procedure between the Committee of Ministers and the Assembly in response to a serious violation by a member State of its statutory obligations, the functioning of democratic institutions in Poland, and reported cases of political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

   

• The meeting of Archil Talakvadze with the newly appointed Ambassador of People’s Republic of China

  The Speaker, H.E. Archil Talakvadze held the introductory meeting with the newly appointed Ambassador of China to discuss the bilateral relations and the cooperation agenda.

  As noted, political, trade-economic, cultural and people-to-people relations are the directions Georgia and China are to adhere to in further cooperation.

  The parties dwelt on the Silk Road Project “One Belt One Road”, which is of the strategic importance for Georgia and Georgia, in terms of security, economic integration and infrastructural update is committed for this mission.

  The parties touched upon transit and investment capacities of Georgia and stressed importance of inter-Parliamentary ties.

  The Ambassador reaffirmed support to territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia and underlined that China strongly respects the choice Georgian people has opted for development. In his turn, the Speaker expressed intact support of Georgia to “One-China” policy.

  The Speaker wished good luck to the Ambassador and expressed commitment for close cooperation.

  The meeting was attended by the Head of Georgia-China Friendship Group, Otar Danelia.