Romania is completing today its six-month presidency of the Ministerial Council of the Council of Europe ( November 18, 2005 - May 19, 2006 ) and is handing it over to the Russian Federation . Romanian Foreign Minister, Mihai Razvan Ungureanu has been participating, as of yesterday, at the 116th session of the Ministerial Council of the Council of Europe, in Strasbourg, which gives him the opportunity to present the summing-up report of Romania 's six-month tenure. The ministerial meeting will have two components: an informal session (yesterday evening), which had Kosovo as the main topic discussed and a special guest – Marti Ahtisaari, the special envoy for the status of Kosovo of the UN Secretary General, and the plenum session. The plenary meeting has scheduled debates on topics dealing with the strengthening of the protection system of human rights, the activity of the Council of Europe (CoE) in the area of democracy and good governance and the reform of the organisation.
Ungureanu will present the summing-up report of Romania's presidency and the steps taken for promoting the CoE values – fostering democracy, rule of law and human rights – in the Eastern proximity, in the context of certain major political moments that marked the Romania's term – the general election in Ukraine and Belarus, the partial repeat of parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, the start of preparations for the referendum in Montenegro etc. Special attention will be given to the innovating projects proposed by the Romanian presidency of the Ministerial Council: launching the process of creating an Euro-region of the Black Sea, as an instrument for boosting democracy at local level, holding a first meeting of the schools of political studies of the Council of Europe as a first stage in the setting up of certain networks of such training structures for the new leaders in Eastern Europe, as well as hosting the first regional meeting of the Council of Europe campaign for preventing and fighting human trafficking.
The conclusion of Romania's term was marked yesterday evening by a recital of Romanian and Russian classical music performed at the St Guillaume Protestant Cathedral in Strasbourg, an event attended by the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Terry Davis, the heads of the delegations of the 46 CoE member states, members of the diplomatic an consular corps and representatives of local authorities.