Belarus insists on restoring its special guest status in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Vadim Popov stated during a meeting with Andrea Rigoni, the PACE Vice-Chairperson, Rapporteur of the Political Affairs Committee on the situation in Belarus. The meeting was held in Minsk on October 17. “We have discussed all the issues of mutual interest. The meeting helped to compare our positions and views and to agree on forms of further cooperation,” Vadim Popov stated. “The top priority of the Belarusian parliament is to have the special guest status in PACE restored,” the Belarusian speaker added. Andrea Rigoni specified that during the visit he was going to check how Belarusian authorities met 12 demands of the European Union. He assured that he “will give an objective account of the situation in Belarus in his report to the PACE Political Affairs Committee at the beginning of 2008”.