Dear Mr. Chairman, 
Secretary General, 
DearColleagues,

The global crisis set in motion on September 11 has caused each of us in our capitals around the world to reexamine our policies, our assumptions and our projections. We have realized that the better, fairer world we thought we were creating at the end of the Cold War has not yet come to pass. That 5,000 and more innocent civilians could be killed in one day, in two of the world's greatest cities, in the absence of a declared war, meant that terrorism has reached a new qualitative level.

As a result, international alliances and national policies have also attained a new quality. We are all in this together. The global coalition formed to counter terrorism depends on the civilized world's united condemnation of such blind terror, and its determination to fight it to the end.

Mr. Chairman, this is an opportunity to recognize the value of this organization, applaud its aims, goals and methodologies and hope that it will be emulated as a legitimate, long-term, committed way to further the cause of human rights and the rule of law. We welcome the Secretary General's Report on terrorism and the recommendations he has made. We also welcome the communiquŽ we are adopting today which highlights some of the actions we need to take, focusing on legal cooperation, safeguarding fundamental values, and investing in democracy. Indeed, it is our strong conviction that more democratic a state is, the more peaceful it is.

And this is why the Council of Europe is indispensable for its members, particularly for the new ones.

Mr. President, a year after receiving membership in the Council of Europe, Armenia is already enjoying the benefits of this relationship. We welcome the opening of a Council of Europe information center in Yerevan. The necessary judicial and legislative reforms have begun to bring Armenia's institutions in line with European norms. In some areas, such as the removal of the death penalty provision, we will proceed according to our commitments. In other areas, such as transferring the penitentiary system from the jurisdiction of the Interior Ministry to the Ministry of Justice, changes are already implemented. In some other important areas, such as political and press freedoms, Armenia has, in the assessment of Council of Europe monitors, met all expectations. Our record is clean, and we hope that future reports will publicly and fairly reflect these accomplishments and judge Armenia and its path to full completion of membership requirements on its own merits, and on the public record.

Mr. President, at this meeting, Armenia will join in signing the six conventions on terrorism. And we do so with the conviction that the civilized world must condemn and fight against the kind of horror that threatens life and security, and that in no way helps promote any cause or any issue. On the contrary, we reject the efforts of some who use the current climate to pursue narrow national political interests, and fuel existing hostilities. We specifically regret the manipulative use of the word terrorism to distort and misrepresent the decades-long struggle of people for self-determination.

Mr. Chairman, while the events of September 11 and what followed have created new complications for our region, it is our belief that at the same time it opens new opportunities for regional cooperation. A lot will depend on our future actions and political will.

Mr. Chairman, each year we come to reaffirm the commitment to defend and reinforce the principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and to find solutions to the major problems facing society: racism, intolerance, discrimination, corruption and organized crime. Following September 11, we affirm these Council of Europe principles more than ever.