At the sitting presided by the First Deputy Chair, Giorgi Khelashvili, the Committee discussed the Protocol on Changes to Article 1(a), Article 14(1) and Article 14(3)(b) of the European Agreement on European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods (ADR) of September 30, 1957, introduced by the Deputy Economic Minister, Guram Guramishvili.

The Agreement aims at higher security of the carriage at the economically acceptable terms. Georgia accessed the Agreement in 2016, though did not recognize the Protocol on Changes by one of the mechanisms provided in Article 4 of the Protocol.

“The changes concern the definition of the moving vehicles, including the tug and trucking bodies, the second change concerns the composition of the truck moving over 25 km/h”, - the reporter noted.

The document valid before 1993 envisaged that any change could be introduced by the UN Secretary-General, while at present, the signatories are as well entitled to introduce the changes.

The Committee took note of the reports by the Delegations to PABSEC and GUAM PA for 2020.

“The Parliament took a fundamentally different and far important place in the foreign relations of Georgia and domestic policy. Thus, our inter-Parliamentary relations with foreign countries acquire particular importance. In this regard, these two reports will be submitted to the plenary session”, - G. Khelashvili noted.

The Head of the Delegation to PABSEC, Vice-Speaker David Sergeenko introduced the report, speaking about the visits and events. According to him, the accounting year includes the sitting of the Standing Committee; the 55th and 56th sessions of the General Assembly; and the sittings of the Committee for Culture, Education and Social Affairs.

“PABSEC is a very important format for economic and political cooperation between the Black Sea region countries established in 2012 and structured to create the new effective opportunities to effectively cooperate on the political, economic and already the pandemic-related issues”, - he stated.

The Head of the Delegation to GUAM PA, Giorgi Khelashvili introduced the report and informed MPs about 2 international visits and 2 online events in 2020 – the extraordinary sitting of the Bureau and the joint sitting of four Committees of the Organization.

He overviewed the plans and noted that Georgia is a GUAM PA presiding state.

“Since Georgia presides GUAM PA in 2021, we intend to organize the Conference of the Speakers in Tbilisi, including not only the GUAM countries but Baltic and Nordic, as well as Visegrad countries. We also hope to host the Speakers of the Parliaments of the Benelux countries. Let me underline that not only within GUAM PA but within the regional format, we strive to enact the Parliamentary contacts, implying the creation of the common area for the political discussions in the Eastern Europe and the Caucasus and to be hosted by Georgia for the first time”, - he added.