PACE President on official visit and Standing Committee meeting

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Strasbourg, 21.05.2007 - On the occasion of Serbia's six-month chairmanship of the Council of Europe's executive body, the Committee of Ministers, the President of the Council's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), René van der Linden, will make an official visit to the country on 23 May, followed by a meeting of the PACE Standing Committee on 24 May.

During his visit, the President is due to meet with President Boris Tadic, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and Foreign Affairs Minister Vuk Jeremic. Discussions are expected to focus on the country's chairmanship in the 47-member organisation, further integration of Serbia, co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the issue of Kosovo.

The Assembly's Standing Committee - which acts in the name of the Assembly between sessions - will hold an exchange of views with Mr Jeremic. The committee is also due to debate reports on monitoring of commitments as regards social rights, respect for the principle of gender equality in civil law, the capture of carbon dioxide as a means of fighting climate change and missing persons in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Deputy Secretary General Maud de Boer-Buquicchio will attend the meeting.

Other meetings organised in Belgrade on 23 May include the PACE Bureau, which is due to to draw up the draft order of business for the coming Assembly session from 25 to 29 June, as well as a Parliamentary Round Table on "The role of parliament in promoting gender equality and combating domestic violence" - as part of the Council of Europe campaign against domestic violence - in the framework of a PACE/EU joint initiative to support parliamentary institutions in Serbia and in Montenegro. The Serbian version of the photo exhibition "Break the silence on domestic violence" will be inaugurated on 24 May at 1 pm in the Sava Centar.