“Presidency of the Committee of Ministers is a challenge to any member country of the Council of Europe, as the European Continent faces a number of problems today, which can create difficulties in the protection of our fundamental values,” Armenian Foreign Minister, Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe Edward Nalbandian said at the pan-European conference on “European standards of the rule of law and limits of the authorities’ discretion in the member states of the Council of Europe.”
The Minister added that the chairmanship is also a great responsibility, as the success of the organization depends not only on the efforts of every member of the Council of Europe, but also a proper guidance of those efforts.
“The priorities of the Armenian chairmanship of the CoE Committee of Ministers are based on three pillars of the organization with special emphasis on most urgent issues of the time, which require adequate reaction. Among them I would note the fight against racism and xenophobia, promotion of inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue, reinforcement of the European standards of human rights and rule of law, encouragement of democratic societies,” Minister Nalbandian said.
“The Armenian chairmanship attaches great importance to all the efforts targeted at raising the effectiveness of the European Court of Human Rights, implementation of reforms in the Council of Europe, reinforcement of the organization’s role in the general European architecture, development of dialogue with partner organizations and neighboring regions,” Edward Nalbandian said.
