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Belgrade to host 1000th session of CoE Committee of Ministers

Belgrade, 20 June 2007

Coordinator for Serbia’s Presidency over the Council of Europe’s (CoE) Committee of Ministers Dejan Sahovic stated today that on Friday Belgrade will host the 1000th session of the Committee of Ministers in which 47 officials of the oldest European organisation will participate.

Sahovic said that for Serbia, as one of its youngest members, it is very important that the 1000th meeting will be held in Belgrade and added that it will be one of the most consequential gatherings Serbia will organise during its presidency.

He also added it will be one of the largest meetings in Belgrade in the last several years, having in mind the number of participants.

Ambassadors of all 47 CoE member countries and officials of the Committee of Ministers will arrive in Belgrade tomorrow and tomorrow evening a reception will be held in their honour in Belgrade City Hall where they will be welcomed by Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic and Belgrade City Deputy Mayor Radmila Hrustanovic.

Minister Jeremic will open the session and Serbian President Boris Tadic and Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davies will address the participants.

The meeting will be chaired by Serbian Head of Mission in the Council of Europe Sladjana Prica and the main topic will be “State of Democracy in Europe – The Role of the Council of Europe”.

Scheduled to speak are CoE Parliamentary Assembly Rapporteur Andreas Grosse and CoE Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg. One of the topics will be strengthening cooperation in the Balkans through regional initiatives, including the South-East European Cooperation Process and the newly-formed Regional Cooperation Council.

As for regional cooperation, which is one of Serbia’s priorities during its presidency, scheduled to speak on the topic is Bulgarian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Todor Curov, whereas Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic is also expected to take part.

In the afternoon session two discussions will be held, one with representatives of youth organisations, with the participation of Serbian Minister of Youth and Sports Snezana Samardzic-Markovic, and the other with representatives of civil society.

Participants of the meeting will adopt a joint declaration whose aim is to reconfirm the importance of the preservation and improvement of essential values of the Council of Europe – democracy, human rights and the rule of law, as well as agreements reached in this context at previous summits and Council of Europe’s ministerial meetings.

On Saturday, the last day of the visit, Serbian Parliament Speaker Oliver Dulic will welcome the ambassadors who will also take part in the campaign themed “Everyone is Different, Everyone is Equal”.

Serbia took over the presidency of the Council of Europe on May 11 and in mid-November the role will be taken by the Slovak Republic.