Friday, 21 may 2010Speech by Mevlut Cavusoglu, President of the parliamentary assembly of the council of Europe on the Meeting of the Standing Committee 
Dear President,
Dear Speaker,
Dear Colleagues,
First of all, I would like to thank Parliament and, in particular, it’s President, for hosting this meeting of the Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly in Skopje. Minister Milososki, your chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers has just started and we have already had an opportunity of working together. I welcome your presence today as a sign of your willingness to further enhance the cooperation with the Parliamentary Assembly, and I think you for that. On our side, we are ready to give full support to your chairmanship and look forward to welcoming you in our Hemicycle during our June part-session.
Let me underline that the priorities of the Macedonian Chairmanship largely coincide with those that I promote as President of the Parliamentary Assembly.
As for the fist of the three main priorities listed in your document, “Strengthening human rights protection, “that is of course part of the core business of our Organization. In this participate, was the starting point of new and significant momentum.
Given the commitment you have made to ensure the long-term effectiveness of the Convention system, and to promote the principle of subsidiarity, I trust that the Interlaken process will be in good hands for the next six months.
Secondly, I have particularly appreciated the idea of “fostering integration while respecting diversity”, and the emphasis given to interreligious and intercultural dialogue as an instrument of mutual understanding.
The “Council of Europe 2010 Exchange on the religious dimension of intercultural dialogue”, which will take place in Ohrid on 13 and 14 September 2010, seems to me a particularly meaningful event. The Assembly, and myself personally, would be glad to contribute to this event.
As for the promotion of youth participation, particularly in the form of investing in education, we can only approve of it and commit ourselves to giving our full support.
The youth of today are not only the future of Europe, they are also an important part of the present , particularly in this area of our Continent which is dear to me, as you can see by my numerous visits.
Therefore, we are looking forward to our exchange of views on these and other issues this morning.
However, I would like first of all to give the floor to the Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Trajko Veljanoski, for his welcome address.