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High-level meeting in Council of Europe-European Union format ends

23 October 2007 16:51 (UTC +04:00)

This is the first official meeting held after memorandum of understanding signed between the two organizations in May, 2007.
Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, Manuel Lobo Antunes and representative of European Commission Foreign Affairs and Neighborhood Policy Commissariat Ms Luisa Pavan-Woolfe represented EU in the meeting. CE Secretary General Terry Davis and Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Yeremich chairing CE Committee of the Ministers at present represented CE in the meeting.
The participants said in press conference in CE the two organizations achieved agreement on uniting around general interests. The sides regard necessity of preparing joint projects regarding the issues arousing common interests. Following this, they also touched on cooperation with newly-established Agency for Fundamental Rights under CE-EU in the meeting and stated that they are waiting impatiently for the establishment of legal base which can give an impetus to this cooperation. The sides bringing issue on EUâ€™s joining European Convention for Human Rights into the agenda again stated that regional cooperation in Europe, as well as cooperation in South-East European region should be developed.
CE Secretary General Terry Davis and Manuel Lobo Antunes criticized bloody actions committed by PKK terrorist organization in Turkey again at the end of press conference. /APA/