Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers

Armenia hands over chairmanship to Austria

Strasbourg, 14.11.2013 - The Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe passed from Armenia to Austria today, at a meeting at the Organisation's Strasbourg headquarters, attended by representatives of its 47 member States.

Before handing over the chairmanship to his successor, the outgoing Chair Edward Nalbandian, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Armenia, gave an overview of his country's achievements during its chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers.

The new Chair of the Committee of Ministers, Michael Spindelegger, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Austria, presented the priorities of the Austrian chairmanship which will run for six months as of today.

At a brief ceremony during the meeting, Minister Spindelegger solemnly handed over to the Secretary General, Thorbjørn Jagland, the instrument of Austria's ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, known as the Istanbul Convention (CETS no. 210). Austria pledged that, during its chairmanship, it would "promote measures for an early entry into force of the Convention", which requires 10 ratifications. (more...)

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Back 06.06.2013 - Chairman of Committee of Ministers presents priorities of Armenian Chairmanship at OSCE

06.06.13. Today, at the invitation of the Ukrainian Chairmanship of the OSCE, Mr Edward Nalbandian, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, presented the priorities of the Armenian chairmanship before the Permanent Council of the OSCE.

Those priorities include promoting European values through intercultural dialogue; strengthening European standards on human rights and the rule of law; combating racism and xenophobia in Europe, fostering democratic societies; as well as reinforcing co-ordination and promoting synergies between pan-European organisations.

Speech