The meeting was attended by parliamentarians from Serbia, Russia, Greece, Cyprus, Armenia, Bulgaria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Romania and Syria. The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia was represented by MP Aleksandar Cotric, head of the standing delegation to IAO and the rapporteur of the Committee on Culture.

At the initiative of the Russian Duma member and Chairman of the IAO Committee on International Policy Konstantin Zatulin, the Sochi Art Museum hosted the exhibition of engravings with the theme “Athos – the Holy Mountain”.

The participants of the meeting attended the ceremonial opening of the exhibition which had previously been presented at the Russian Duma, Hellenic Parliament, Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki and the European Parliament. The exhibition was visited by many of the citizens, clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church and representatives of the cultural and public life in Sochi.

After the opening of the exhibition the members of IAO attended service at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Sochi.

The meeting focused on the 24th General Assembly held in June in Rome, the participants analysed the contacts between the IAO members and the parliaments around the world and discussed the situation in the Middle East.

Beirut is to host an international conference of the peaceful cohabitation of Christians and Muslims, as well as an exhibition of etchings in March 2018.

The discussion on the coming 25th anniversary of the IAO and the General Assembly scheduled for the end of June 2018 in Athens also garnered considerable attention.

The Governor of the Krasnodar region Veniamin Kondratyev addressed the participants of the IAO meeting who also met with the Mayor of Sochi Anatoly Pakhomov and Chairman of the City Council Viktor Filonov.

The IAO members also visited the Olympic Park in Krasnaya Polyana.