The Council of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible for Spatial/Regional Planning (CEMAT) brings together representatives of the 47 Council of Europe member states in pursuit of a shared objective: the promotion of the territorial dimension of human rights and democracy for a sustainable spatial development of the European Continent.

The Council of Europe’s activities relating to spatial planning began in 1970 in Bonn with the first European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning. They originated in concerns raised from the early 1960s by the then Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, which were reflected in the presentation in May 1968 of a historic report on Spatial /Regional planning "A European problem".

Seventeen Council of Europe specialised ministerial conferences CEMAT, prepared under the request of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the invitation of one of its members states by the Committee of Senior Officials of the CEMAT, have to date been organised by the Secretariat of the Council of Europe.