On 2-3 July 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia will be hosting the leadership of the Council of Europe. During the official visit Council of Europe Secretary General, HE Thorbjorn Jagland and the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, HE Antonio Miloshoski will meet with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, HE Grigol Vashadze, State Minister on the Reintegration Issues, HE Temur Yakobashvili and the Minister of Refugees and Accommodation, HE Koba Subeliani. The meetings of the Foreign Minister Miloshoski and Secretary General Jagland with the President of Georgia and the Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia are also envisaged by the programme of the visit.

On 25 June 2010, Zurab Tchiaberashvili, Permanent Representative of Georgia to the Council of Europe signed with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe the European Convention on Consular Functions (ETS 061).

On 23 June 2010, the President of the Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Chairman of the Sub-Committee on the Europe Prize awarded Tbilisi, together with other 17 prize-winning municipalities from France, Germany, Spain, UK, Italy, Poland and Ukraine with the European Diploma 2010, on the occasion of a ceremony attended by about 80 people. Mr Mamuka Jgenti, Deputy Permanent Representative of Georgia received the European Diploma on behalf of Tbilisi Municipality.

On Saturday 5 June, the Venice Commission celebrates its 20^th anniversary in the presence of the Chairman-in-Office of the Committee of Ministers, the Secretary General, the Deputy Secretary General and the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe as well as heads of states, ambassadors, presidents of Courts and Commission’s members. More than 300 participants have registered for the event.

On 1 June 2010 the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania passed a Resolution on the Situation in Georgia.

The Republic of Lithuania as a member state of the European Union, UN, OSCE and other international organisations openly condemned Russian aggression against Georgia and the occupation of Georgian territories.

Protocol No. 14 to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which aims to make the European Court of Human Rights more efficient, enters into force tomorrow.

Yesterday’s municipal elections in Georgia marked evident progress towards meeting international standards, but significant shortcomings remain to be addressed, international observers from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) and the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities concluded in a statement released today.

''The 30 May municipal elections have shown that Georgia has made considerable progress in respect of democracy, the rule of law and local self-government,'' Congress Vice-President Günther Krug stated at the press conference, on 31 May in Tbilisi.

The situation in the North Caucasus region, particularly the Chechen Republic, Ingushetia and Dagestan, is currently “the most serious and delicate situation” from the angle of protecting human rights and affirming the rule of law in the whole geographic area covered by the Council of Europe, as stressed by the text adopted this morning by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), on the basis of the report drawn up by Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE).

A delegation of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe will observe local elections in Georgia, including the first direct elections of the Mayor of Tbilisi, on 30 May 2010.  On 27 and 28 May the delegation will meet with representatives of government and electoral bodies, amongst them the Chairman of the Parliament, Davit Bakradze and the Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure, Davit Tkeshelalvili. Meetings are scheduled also with media and local NGO representatives. Views will be exchanged with members of the OSCE/ODIHR delegation.  

Congress Vice-President Günther Krug (Germany, SOC) will head a delegation, which will include also four members of the European Union’s Committee of the Regions. As a part of the cooperation agreement between the two institutions.