Tbilisi Promises To Host Council Of Europe Ministerial Summit At 'Appropriate Level'

TBILISI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th February, 2020) Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani said on Friday that the May ministerial summit of the Council of Europe would be held in line with the highest standards.

Tbilisi has been rumored to have asked the Council of Europe to move the Committee of Ministers summit, set for May 14-15, to Strasbourg over Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's possible participation in the event. Under Georgian law, the top Russian diplomat may be denied entry to the country following his visits to the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia without Tbilisi's authorization.

"Our position is known: Georgia, as the chairing country, will act in accordance with the rules and procedures of this organization in order to ensure that the ministerial [conference] is held at the appropriate level.

For us, the most important thing is that our country's interests are protected," Zalkaliani told reporters, adding that it was too early to say which countries would be arriving.

The minister went on to say that Georgia was still consulting with the Council of Europe's secretariat on the organizational matters.

While Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has said that her country is ready to receive the Russian delegation at the Council of Europe's decision-making body, the Georgian opposition has called for barring Lavrov from attending.

Moscow has, meanwhile, raised concerns over possible provocations at the ministerial summit.