I would like to reiterate Zurab Zhvania’s words spoken here in the Council of Europe – I am Georgian, and therefore I am European, - Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze said in his speech delivered at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

“20 years ago, in 1999, the then Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, late Zurab Zhvania, here in this wonderful city of Strasbourg, speaking at the historical moment when Georgia was joining the Council of Europe, made his famous statement. I vividly remember his words. And therefore today, 20 years after, I would like to reiterate Zurab Zhvania’s words spoken here in the Council of Europe – I am Georgian, and therefore I am European!

Since this historic words 20 years have passed and symbolically, this year we will take up the chairmanship of the Council of Europe, the organization that has been a principal supporter on our path and its now our turn to accept the torch and pass it to the future generations”, the PM said.