CoE Sec Gen to hold meeting with Georgian officials in Tbilisi visit

Alain Berset, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, on Tuesday started an official visit to Georgia and will hold meetings with Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, President-elect Mikheil Kavelashvili and Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili.

Lasha Darsalia, the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, welcomed Berset at the Tbilisi International Airport.

Berset will also visit a village adjacent to the administrative line separating central Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region from the rest of the country.

In a statement, the Council of Europe said the aim of the visit was to ensure conditions for “continued cooperation” between the body and Georgia, in “full compliance” with the organisation's “values and principles”.