President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the CE visits Azerbaijan

As APA reports, he intends to visit Foreign ministry and Justice ministry during his visit and to hold meetings in Central Election Commission, Executive Power of Baku.

Improvement of the work of the municipalities', establishment of Azerbaijan National Municipality Association and other issues will be discussed at the meetings.

Today Giovanni Di Stasi will pay a visit to Georgia. During his visit to this country he will meet with head of the Presidential Administration George Arveladze, Parliament Speaker Nino Burjanadze, Minister of Foreign Affairs Gela Bezhuashvili, Minister of Justice Gia Kavtaradze, President of the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia (NALAG) Mamuka Abuladze and Mayor of Tbilisi Gigi Ugulava, as well as members of the State Commission on Decentralisation.

Discussions will focus on the development of NALAG since its creation and its role in the institutional dialogue with the central authorities. The preparation of local elections scheduled for the autumn 2006 will be also discussed, including the revised electoral code and the reform of the electoral system at local level.

The on-going reforms related to local self-government (administrative territorial reform, supervision of the activities of the local self-government bodies, local budgets) will be considered. As part of his initiative to launch dialogue among the South Caucasus countries, the President intends to invite the mayors of the three capitals (Baku, Tbilisi, Yerevan) to participate in a roundtable in Strasbourg.