Addressing the Assembly today, Igor Crnadak, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina and current Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, said his country is “honoured to be assuming the Chairmanship for the first time since its accession to the Council of Europe in 2002”.
The Chairmanship, he said, is as a good opportunity to further strengthen the three equally important pillars of the Council of Europe – democracy, human rights and the rule of law. His country, he added, will continue the work on “the common priorities drawn up in co-ordination with the outgoing Chairmanships of Azerbaijan and Belgium”.
Among those priorities, he underlined, are the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention), the Council of Europe policy towards neighbouring regions, the Organisation’s activities in the sphere of culture, and enhancing the Council of Europe's action with respect to the religious dimension of intercultural dialogue.