Delegates from 46 states are coming to Chisinau. The Moldovan Parliament is hosting the meetings of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and approximately 60 parliamentarians from various countries will attend. The sessions will take place from November 20 to 21. Theodoros Rousopoulos, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and Despina Chatzivassiliou-Tsovilis, Secretary General of PACE, will all come to Chisinau.
As part of the event, the Presidential Committee, the PACE Bureau, the ad-hoc Committee on the New Democratic Pact, and the Permanent Committee of PACE will all hold meetings. At the opening of the Permanent Committee, the President of the Parliament, Igor Grosu, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister Mihail Popsoi, and PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos will deliver speeches. The agenda also includes a debate on PACE’s observation of the recent parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova and a debate on preventing and combating gender discrimination in the healthcare sector. The organizers have also requested a current-affairs debate on the topic “Mobilizing citizens in defense of human rights and democracy: recent developments in Latvia,” the Parliament’s Press Service reports.
On Friday, starting at 3:30 p.m., participants will hold discussions on combating violence against women and on the role of legislative institutions in implementing the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is one of the two statutory bodies of the Council of Europe, an international organization that defends human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. The Republic of Moldova joined the Council of Europe on July 13, 1995, becoming a full member state. The country also held the Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in 2003.