Georgia to host Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie

The annual 48th plenary session of the European Region of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie, a forum for political dialogue involving 90 countries across five continents, will take place in Tbilisi between July 4-8, the Georgian Parliament announced on Monday. 

The event will bring together 40 delegations from member states, with the official launch scheduled on July 7, where the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili and the APF President Francis Drouin will address the audience. 

Meetings of the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly, committees, networks of young parliamentarians and female lawmakers will be hosted between July 4-6, while the plenary session will be hosted on July 7-8, the Parliament press office said. 

The decision on Georgia’s hosting the event was made at the Annual Conference of the Heads of Delegations of the European Region in the Principality of Monaco last year, attended by David Songhulashvili, the Chairman of the Georgian Parliamentary Committee on Sectoral Economics and Economic Policy, and Maka Botchorishvili, the head of the Parliament's European Integration Committee. 

Georgia joined the APF in 2001 and hosted a conference in 2012. The country made an official application in 2021 to have its status upgraded from observer to associate member.

The APF is made up of 90 countries and territorial units from five continents, and represents a forum for political dialogue and exchange of views between French-speaking nations.