President to attend CoE summit in Reykjavik

President Nikos Christodoulides is visiting Reykjavik in Iceland to take part in the 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe on 16-17 May.

The President will attend a reception hosted by the Prime Minister of Iceland, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, for the heads of state or government participating in the Summit, before heading to the opening ceremony of the Summit with the theme "United around our values".

According to a presidency press release, the opening ceremony will be addressed by the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.

The Summit will be held at Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre and the agenda is divided into an opening event, round table discussions on different subjects relating to the Summit’s outcome document, a working dinner that will be dedicated to Ukraine, and general discussions, during which the representatives of States will address the Summit.

President Christodoulides will take part in a round table discussion on democracy in difficult times. He will also take part in a working dinner hosted by CoE Secretary General, Marija Pejčinović Burić, which will examine the situation in Ukraine.

He will also hold a bilateral meeting with Dutch Prime Minister, Μark Rutte, and sign the partial agreement on the Damage Register (the recording of damages caused in Ukraine by the illegal Russian invasion and decided by the CoE countries). He will then take part in the general discussion on "United for Europe" where he will make an intervention.

President Christodoulides will hold a bilateral meeting with US Permanent Representative at the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who is heading the US delegation to the summit as well as a meeting with Moldavia President, Maia Sandu. He will also hold separate meetings with the CoE Secretary General and Malta's PM, Robert Abela.

He will further attend the closing ceremony which will adopt the Reykjavik Declaration and Iceland will hand over the Presidency of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers to Latvia.