VATICAN CITY, 13 November 2018 – In meetings at the Vatican today, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli (MP, Georgia) and Secretary General Roberto Montella welcomed the contributions of the Holy See in the PA. Tsereteli and Montella met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States, discussing current challenges in the OSCE area, including conflicts, migration and transnational threats.

Holy See 1 George Tsereteli and Roberto Montella meet with Pietro Parolin and Paul Richard Gallagher at the Vatican, 13 November 2018The sides emphasized the need for more dialogue to address threats to multilateralism and agreed on the necessity to excercise the highest standards of ethics and morality in carrying out political responsibilities with a greater focus on the respect for human dignity. Politics should pursue the good of the people and not power or other agendas, they underlined.

Tsereteli and Montella expressed strong appreciation for participation of the Holy See in the PA as guests of honour, noting that its contributions are most welcome.

The meetings today at the Vatican follow President Tsereteli’s speech yesterday at LUISS University in Rome on the fight against corruption. The President also met today with the Italian Delegation to the OSCE PA and congratulated its new head Paolo Grimoldi on his recent appointment. The PA President and SG will continue the trip paying an official visit to San Marino tomorrow.