The Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) met in Nicosia on Friday 25 May, in the context of the Cypriot Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers (22 November 2016 – 19 May 2017).
After the opening of the meeting by PACE President Pedro Agramunt, the President of the House of Representatives of Cyprus, Demetris Syllouris, welcome dparticipants. The parliamentarians then held an exchange of views with the Cypriot Minister for Foreign Affairs Ioannis Kasoulides, who will chair the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers for the six-month period. The discussions focused on Cyprus' priorities during its Chairmanship and other issues in the framework of the Assembly's ongoing political dialogue with the Committee of Ministers.
The members of the Standing Committee examined the situation in Aleppo and discussed the other issues on the agenda, including: the observation of the parliamentary elections in Morocco, Georgia and Montenegro, the observation of the presidential election in the Republic of Moldova, the access to health care for all children in Europe, as well as the exploration and exploitation of non-conventional hydrocarbons in Europe.
(*) The Standing Committee, which acts on the Assembly's behalf between plenary sessions, is made up of the President and Vice-Presidents of the Assembly, the chairpersons of political groups, the chairpersons of national delegations and the committee chairpersons, totalling some 60 parliamentarians from the Council of Europe's 47 member States.
The meeting of the Standing Committee, which was open to the press, took place on Friday 25 November 2016 from 9.30 am to around 12.30 pm at the Filoxenia Conference Centre, 17 Thrakis Street, 1311 Nicosia.
