Europe

Home page

Europe

Spain takes over presidency of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers

27 November 2008 21:09 (UTC +04:00)

APA bureau reports that the outgoing and incoming Foreign Ministers gave a joint press conference with the presence of CoE Secretary General Terry Davis.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos described the work to be done by his country during the presidency. According to him, Spain will continue the undertaken work and prepare events on the occasion of 60th anniversary of the Council of Europe and the 50th anniversary of the European Court of Human Rights.
â€œDuring the presidency we will also continue the process of implementing the Action Plan related to Georgia, which was proposed by Sweden to the Committee of Ministers. We will be working towards the signing 14th Protocol by Russia in close cooperation with our friends in this country. We will also deal with other priorities of the Committee of Ministers. Among them there are the fight against terrorism, intercultural dialogue, the possibility of signing the Convention relating to the prevention of violence against women,: he added.
Miguel Angel Moratinos stressed that all these activities will be carried out in collaboration with member countries.
The Spanish FM also said that a large conference on the 60th anniversary of the Council of Europe will be organized at the end of the presidency in May . The conference will pass a Declaration of Madrid.
â€œThis declaration will reflect the fundamental principles of the organization - human rights, supremacy of the rule of law, the principle of democracy,â€ he added.