Georgia’s Prime Minister among world envoys to address PACE

Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili will address the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) next week as a keynote speaker about major challenges facing the modern world.

PACE will gather for its spring session in Strasbourg, France on April 18-22. Kvirikashvili will be among the keynote speakers during the session.

The Georgian official will address PACE members on 21 April. His address and following questions will be streamed live in English, French and Russian, said a Council of Europe spokesperson.

Meanwhile speeches by the Presidents of Austria and the European Commission, and the Prime Minister of Turkey were also scheduled for the same session.

The refugee and migrant crisis in Europe will be on the agenda, with debates on a stronger European response to the Syrian refugee crisis, the human rights of refugees and migrants in the Western Balkans and the new challenge posed by forced migration, the Council said.

Other items on the agenda included debates on assessing the impact of measures to improve women’s political representation, preventing the radicalisation of children, humanitarian concerns with regard to people captured during the war in Ukraine, the handling of international public health emergencies and the fight against antisemitism in Europe.

There has also been a request for an urgent debate on "The Savchenko case”, the Council said. This case involved a Ukrainian politician and former Army pilot who was unlawfully detained in mid-2014 by pro-Russian forces in Eastern Ukraine, and later handed over to Russia, where she remained imprisoned.