PACE winter session opening January 21January 21, 2008 - 12:42 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Reports by Dick Marty, questioning the fairness of UN and EU blacklists, and Lord Russell-Johnston, on developments regarding the future status of Kosovo, will be the focus of debates to be held by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) at its forthcoming winter session from 21-25 January 2008. A further highlight will be a debate on the disappearance of newborn babies for illegal adoption in Europe.Guest speakers invited to address the Assembly include the Presidents of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, and Albania, Bamir Topi. Other speakers will include the Prime Ministers of Slovakia (Robert Fico) and Hungary (Ferenc Gyurcsany) as well as Green Cross International President Mikhail Gorbachev (to be confirmed) and Michel Platini, President of UEFA. The Assembly will elect its new President, the successor to Rene van der Linden, at the opening of the session at 11.30am on Monday 21 January. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Terry Davis, will also present a report on the state of the Council of Europe during the session, the PACE communication unit reported. The Armenian delegation will be headed by chairman of the standing parliamentary commission on state and legal affairs David Harutyunyan. Top stories President of the Armenian parliament Alen Simonyan met with the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova. Achieving stable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains a priority of the OSCE, said Ian Borg. The Cabinet of Ministers decided on Thursday, November 9 to allocated AMD 120 million to arrange the gathering. Michael Roth believes sanctions must be put on the table after Baku‘s ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. Partner news | Ameriabank's Trade Finance portfolio enriched with four prestigious awards from EBRD and IFC Ameriabank received the awards from international financial institutions in recognition of its trade finance operations. Armenian Economy Minister to make trip to UAE May 20-22 A delegation led by Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan will travel to the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi on May 20-22 Armenian PM sends condolences to Iran Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sent a message of condolence to the Supreme Leader Seyyed Ali Khamenei. Armenia, Turkey discuss restoration of historic bridge The meeting took place on May 17 in Ashgabat on the sidelines of an international conference of ministers of culture. |