Third Summit of Council of Europe in Warsaw

Unofficial translation from Russian

PRESS RELEASE

On May 16-17, the Third Summit of the Council of Europe (CE) took place in Warsaw. It was attended by the heads of state and government of the CE member countries and by the representatives of a number of countries which are observers in this oldest pan-European organization. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov headed the Russian delegation.

The forum has constituted an important political event of 2005 that has helped to consolidate the role of the Council of Europe as the largest cooperation organization on the continent and to determine the guidelines and areas of its activity for the medium term. Important decisions were passed at the summit concerning the role and tasks of the CE for the long haul, and the Organization's place in the system of other European institutions was considered. The participants in the meeting adopted a Political Declaration and an Action Plan to implement the political goals of the Council of Europe.

There was outlined in the course of the summit the strategic aim of the CE - to build a united Europe without dividing lines and double standards on the basis of adherence to common values of democracy, rule of law, respect of human rights, and the preservation of the cultural diversity of the European continent.

A thorough discussion of such problems as strengthening antiterrorist engagement, stepping up multilateral cooperation in the legal field and a number of questions of a social, cultural and legal character took place.

The Warsaw summit adopted a Declaration on Cooperation Between the CE and the OSCE, and the Main Areas of Development of CE-European Union Relations. Also reflected in the final documents of the meeting is the position of the Organization on new challenges and threats, primarily the problem of combating terrorism.

There were opened for signature at the summit three new conventions of the Council of Europe, crafted before it - the Convention on the prevention of terrorism, the Convention on laundering, search, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds from crime and on the financing of terrorism, and the Convention on action against trafficking in human beings - which is a component part of the contribution of the Organization to the fight of the world community against terrorism and organized crime.

May 17, 2005