Foreign Minister in Strasbourg
By Tea Mariamidze
Thursday, March 9
Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze is on a working visit to Strasbourg, where he is holding meetings with representatives of the Council of Europe, the CoE Parliamentary Assembly and the European Court of Human Rights.
On Monday, Janelidze met the President of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Guido Raimondi.
One of the key issues of the meeting was the reforms recently implemented in Georgia in the fields of human rights protection and the rule of law, as well as in the judicial system.
Guido Raimondi thanked Janelidze for Georgia’s active cooperation with the ECHR.
“Successful cooperation with the Council of Europe and the European Court are the priorities of the Georgian government. We have very good cooperation in terms of human rights action plans, and accordingly we will continue working in this direction,” the Georgian minister said.
Janelidze also met the Deputy Secretary General of the European Council, Gabriella Battani-Dragoni.
“The Council of Europe appreciates the efforts of the country's democratization process…we are working together to strengthen the judicial system, as well as other matters that are important to the country's democratic development,” the Deputy Secretary General stated after the meeting.
The Minister also attended a meeting in the Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner's office.
The key issue of the meeting was the cooperation of Georgia and the Council of Europe in different spheres.
Janelidze briefed the Council of Europe officials on the reforms the Government of Georgia had carried out in various priority areas.
The officials also discussed the recent developments in Georgia’s breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, including the closure of the crossing points at the administrative boundary line of Abkhazia by the de-facto authorities and a planned illegal referendum in the Tskhinvali region.
