Volodymyr Lytvyn, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, initiated and held the meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Standing Delegation in the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) with the experts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine headed by Deputy Minister Pavlo Klimkin.
The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine initiated consultations between the Ukrainian parliamentary delegations in the inter-parliamentary organizations to combine the synergy of the supreme legislator and the foreign affairs ministry to defend the state interests of Ukraine in the key international issues in the inter-parliamentary institutions. V.Lytvyn stressed that people´s deputies are fully independent in declaring the stands of different factions and political groups on domestic and foreign political matters.
V.Lytvyn supposes that people´s deputies of Ukraine, members of the Verkhovna Rada standing delegations in the inter-parliamentary organizations, should understand and defend the standpoint of Ukraine on the complicated issues of global development, security, regional conflicts, and prospective establishment of international organizations.
Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine P.Klimkin briefed in-depth about the key issues of PACE agenda, i.e. budget priorities of the Council of Europe and PACE for the coming fiscal years, political situation in the north of Africa, illegal migration and human rights in Europe, topical matters concerning reforms of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly.
Ukraine took over presidency over the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in May, 2011.