The European Center for Minority Issues in cooperation with Moldova's Bureau for Interethnic Relations is organizing, starting today, a round of seminars in Chisinau, Comrat and Balti themed “Ethnocultural Policy and Models of Cooperation with Authorities”, IPN reports.

One of the major goals of these seminars, organized within the framework of the Eastern Partnership's Program for national minorities, is to achieve greater participation of ethnic minorities in public life and a more effective dialogue between the government and minorities.

The series of seminars starts on Monday at the Labor Institute in Chisinau, with a lecture on the topic of European models of communication between governments and minorities, and will continue on Tuesday with a lecture that will discuss the role of special mechanisms for minority protection and representation.

The lectures in Chisinau will be delivered by esteemed experts: Dr. Reetta Toivanen, who is president of the Finnish Human Rights League and a member of the European Committee against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), and respectively Dr. Petar Teofilović, professor of law at the University of Novi Sad and a pioneer of Serbia's institution of provincial ombudsman.

On October 21 a similar seminar will be held in Comrat, followed by another one in Balti on October 25.

The European Center for Minority Issues (CEPM) is an independent research institute that conducts practice and policy-oriented research as well as provides information, expertise, consultations and documentation concerning minority majority relations in Europe.

The objectives of the ECMI Eastern Partnership Program "National Minorities and Ethno Political issues: Belarus-Moldova-Ukraine" are awareness-raising and capacity-building of state policies aimed at social equality management and enhancement of the cooperation of the state with its national minorities, as well as improvement of cooperation between central and local bodies upon necessity, trust-building and cooperation advancement between state organs and civic society, consultative bodies and advisory bodies on minority issues.