On September 30 the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe Edward Nalbandian delivered a speech at the Plenary Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

In his address Edward Nalbandian presented to the members of the PACE the activities of the Committee of Ministers during the previous four months, implementation of the priorities of the Armenian Chairmanship, results of the organized events and preparatory works of those which are planned.

“During the four months of the Armenian Chairmanship we managed to adopt and open for signature 15th and 16th protocols of European Convention of Human Rights in the Committee of Ministers which is another important step towards the improvement of the mechanism of the protection of human rights in CoE region.”- said the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

Turning to the struggle against xenophobia and racism in Europe, which is among the priorities of the Armenian Chairmanship, Edward Nalbandian presented to the members of the PACE the preparatory works and discussion topics of the upcoming high-level conference in Yerevan on October 21-22.

Edward Nalbandian presented events to be organized in the framework of the Armenian Chairmanship in the Council of Europe, particularly the Conference on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism; 8th plenary meeting of the Consultative Council of European Prosecutors and the Conference of Mayors of the capital cities of the Council of Europe member states.

Minister Nalbandian also noted that in the context of enhancing the influence of activities of the Council of Europe in triggering and protecting democracy, human rights and rule of law, protection of the rights of individuals should be protected throughout the whole territory under the jurisdiction of the Council of Europe irrespective of the status of the territory where they live.

“The Organization should discuss the possibility of the approach not conditioned by the status of those entities based on the goal to trigger common values and principles”- stressed Minister Nalbandian.

The Chairman of the Committee of Ministers also turned to the importance of elaborating formats of interaction with the Council of Europe for the countries in neighboring regions which are on the way of democratization. In this context Edward Nalbandian informed that the Committee of Ministers made a decision to establish Missions of the CoE in Rabat and Tunis.

After the address Edward Nalbandian answered to a number of questions about the functioning of the CoE, the Armenian Chairmanship of the Organization and issues of international and regional agenda asked by the members of the Assembly.

The Head of the Armenian diplomacy emphasized that the Armenian Chairmanship will continue to support the CoE reform process undertaken by the President of the Council of Europe intended to increase the effectiveness of the Organization.
On the same day Edward Nalbandian met the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Jean-Claude Mignon.

During the meeting the cooperation between the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Committee of Ministers was discussed.

Jean-Claude Mignon informed about his visit to Moldova, meetings and discussions which he had there, as well as turned to the process of the presidential elections in Georgia.

During the conversation the sides also had an exchange of views concerning the Syrian crisis and both sides welcomed the adoption of the Resolution 2118 of UN Security Council and furthering the efforts towards the settlement on that basis.