Chairman of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s minister of foreign affairs Igor Crnadak, has held a press conference on the occasion of completing the first half of a six-month period of B&H presiding over the Committee.
Minister Crnadak recalled at the beginning of his address that B&H had taken over the chairmanship of CMCE on May the 19th , further pointing out that the first half of our country’s six-month long mandate had been marked as exceptionally good by the Council of Europe’s members and in the international scene in general. He expressed his satisfaction over the achieved success of the past three months. He also said that their aim was to demonstrate the dedication and readiness of B&H to contribute to the spread of the Council of Europe’s values and to prove to be a valuable partner in general in the international scene, and that this aim had been achieved.
Minister Crnadak recalled some of the most important events from the former part of his term as chairman and announced some of the more important events which will take place over the next three months. He also mentioned his important and highly rated performances in the Council’s Parliamentary Assembly where he, together with the Chairman of the Presidency, Mladen Ivanić, had presented the situation in B&H, discussed numerous important issues, and answered the questions of the Council’s parliamentarians. Of all the events he singled out the (Regional Forum) film industry conference, recently held in Sarajevo. It was a nice opportunity to bring together the priorities of B&H’s chairmanship within the Council’s CM, and an event of great importance such as the Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF).
Minister Crnadak announced that he will host the ambassadors of the Council’s member countries in mid- September in Sarajevo. He also announced that the ministers conference for the Council of Europe’s cooperation with neighboring regions will be held in November in Morocco, as another priority under B&H’s chairmanship.
As well, he has announced a conference on the B&H judiciary which will be held in October in Banja Luka, including an event with the theme of Southeast European youth politics which will be held in Mostar during the same month. Another thing he has announced is an extremely high level conference on intercultural cooperation and dialogue which will be held in Sarajevo.
Mnister Crnadak expressed a hope that all levels of government in B&H which participate in the realization of the future events will still be up to the task and that B&H will successfully complete its chairmanship and achieve high ratings.
At the press conference Minister Crnadak drew attention in particular to the reaction of the Council’s Committee of Ministers, which had criticized the failure to use bilingual signs in public institutions, squares and other places in Vukovar since using minority languages on official signs has great importance in regards to reputation and helps to raise public awareness about minority languages. He concluded that the Council of Europe’s reaction to this case confirmed it is still an organization with the level of credibility which truly prioritizes the respect of human rights.
Related to that issue, Minister Crnadak reiterated that the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers had made several recommendations to the Croatian authorities earlier which had been rejected by the decision of the city of Vukovar. As the Committee Chairman he has condemned Vukovar’s decision and has again called for the implementation of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages.
(Source:novovrijeme.ba)
