Russia to take Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of CoE

The Committee of Foreign Ministers from the 46 member states of the Council of Europe will hold its 116th session on Thursday 18 and Friday 19 May in Strasbourg. This meeting will mark the end of the current Romanian presidency, which will be succeeded by that of the Russian Federation. On Friday 19 May, under the chairmanship of Mihan Razvan Ungureanu, the Foreign Minister of Romania, the ministers will discuss two main political priorities of the Organization: consolidation of the Council of Europe’s system for the protection of human rights, and reinforcement of cooperation between the Council of Europe and the European Union. The ministers will also discuss other major priorities resulting from the Council of Europe’s Third Summit in Warsaw, namely: the reinforcement of the Council’s action in support of democracy and good governance, the development of intercultural dialogue and the Organisation’s process of internal reform. The Russian Federation will take over the presidency of the Committee of Ministers from Romania, for a period of six months. Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, will present the priorities for his presidency at the end of the session.