1363 Dialogue Deputies 11122019
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Information Documents SG/Com(2019)1363 11 December 20191 ———————————————— Dialogue with the Secretary General and the Deputy Secretary General at the 1363rd meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (11 December 2019) ———————————————— DIALOGUE WITH THE SECRETARY GENERAL 1. Meetings in Strasbourg Heads of the Council of Europe Offices, 19 November Ms Sophie Cluzel, Minister of State for Disabled People, attached to the Prime Minister's office, France, 21 November Representatives from the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), 21 November Ms Gunn Marit Helgesen, President of the Chamber of Regions of the Congress, 27 November Mr David Zalkaliani, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Georgia, 27 November Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly, 28 November Ms Renata Deskoska, Minister for Justice of North Macedonia, 5 December Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) Governing Board meeting, 6 December Mr Boris Titov, Presidential Commissioner for Entrepreneurs' Rights of the Russian Federation, 10 December 1 This document has been classified restricted at the date of issue; it will be declassified in accordance with Resolution Res(2001)6 on access to Council of Europe documents. SG/Com(2019)1363 2 2. Events in Strasbourg Reception on the occasion of the First Meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAHAI), 19 November Opening of the Octopus Conference on co-operation against Cybercrime, 20 November Informal meeting between Permanent Representatives and Heads of Field Offices of the Council of Europe, 20 November Reception given by Ambassador Albana Dautllari, Permanent Representative of Albania, on the occasion of the 107th Anniversary of the Independence Day and the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation Day of Albania, 21 November In the framework of the transfer of the Committee of Ministers' Presidency, 27 November - Inauguration of a Tram in the colours of the Georgian Presidency - Flag-raising ceremony Illumination of the Palais de l’Europe in orange, to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, 28 November Ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the North-South Centre "The North-South Centre: A Council of Europe window to the world", 10 December 3. Events outside Strasbourg 25th Lisbon Forum 2019, Lisbon (Portugal), 25 November - Opening of the 25th Lisbon Forum - Mr Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of Portugal - Ms Ana Paula Zacarias, Secretary of State for European Affairs of Portugal - Mr Miguel Ángel Moratinos, High Representative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) Meeting of the Ministers of Education of the States Parties to the European Cultural Convention, 'Citizenship education in the digital era', Paris (France), 26 November - Mr Jean-Michel Blanquer, Minister of National Education and Youth of France Visit to Paris (France), 2 December - Exchange of views with partners of the Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists in the margins of their meeting - Meeting with Mr Christophe Deloire, Secretary General of Reporters without Borders 3 SG/Com(2019)1363 Working visit to Istanbul (Turkey), 9 December - H.E. Mr Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Turkey - Mr Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister for Foreign Affairs - Mr Abdulhamit Gül, Minister of Justice - Launching Conference of the project “Supporting the Implementation and Reporting on the Action Plan on Human Rights” DIALOGUE WITH THE DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL 1. Meetings in Strasbourg Meeting with Mr Chitaru Shimizu, Director of International Safety and Security Co-operation Division, Foreign Policy Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, 20 November On 20 November, I met Mr Chitaru Shimizu, Director of the International Safety and Security Co-operation Division, Foreign Policy Bureau, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Japan, who was in Strasbourg for the Octopus Conference. It was a very interesting meeting as it allowed the receipt of detailed feedback from a State Party to the Convention and non-member state of the Council of Europe on how our Organisation’s normative work operates and is perceived in other continents. Japan is a very active player in promoting the Budapest Convention, holding constant dialogue with its Asian neighbours, and for instance sharing with them, together with Sri Lanka and the Philippines, the experiences, benefits but also difficulties of being party to the Convention. In this context, Mr Shimizu stressed that, for many countries in Asia, joining the Budapest Convention would mean bringing changes to their criminal codes, which was a very unpopular measure and sometimes posed political problems. As an example, he mentioned that Indonesia had already been trying to change its criminal law for the last 50 years. As Japan also actively promotes the Convention on Cybercrime in the Asian region, I appreciated the active role Japan is playing as an Observer, precisely in the field of the fight against cybercrime. I encouraged the country to be even more active by joining other conventions and participating in the relevant steering committees. I also drew the attention of Mr Shimizu to our work in the field of artificial intelligence and the first meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAHAI) held on 18-20 November. I thanked Japan for the voluntary contributions to our work in the field of cybercrime and intercultural cities, and informed Mr Shimizu that we will soon revert to four-year plans as it was important to plan our activities in advance. Mr Shimizu recalled that on 20-27 April 2020 in Kyoto, Japan will host the 14th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (UN Crime Congress), SG/Com(2019)1363 4 focusing on the fight against crime, cybercrime and terrorism prevention. The Council of Europe has been invited to participate in this event. Rencontre avec M. Fadei Nagacevschi, Ministre de la Justice de la République de Moldova, 25 novembre J’ai rencontré le Ministre de la Justice, M. Nagacevschi, en ouverture d’une journée complète de réunions qu’il a eues au Conseil de l’Europe au sujet de la réforme de la justice en Moldova. J’ai salué cette démarche et le signal ainsi envoyé, quelques jours après sa prise de fonctions. Le Ministre pilotera personnellement la réforme et a fait part très clairement de sa volonté de coopérer étroitement avec le Conseil de l’Europe dans cette entreprise. Après notre entretien, il a rencontré le Président de la Commission de Venice et des représentants de la Direction des droits de l’homme, y inclus les services de la Justice et de l’exécution des arrêts, du CPT, du GRECO et de l’ODGP. Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly, 28 November Standing Committee meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly, 29 November 2. Events in Strasbourg Closing of the Heads of Office meeting, 21 November Ouverture des Journées nationales sur la mise en œuvre de la Convention européenne sur le paysage en France, 26 novembre Le 26 novembre, j’ai ouvert les travaux sur la mise en œuvre de la Convention européenne du paysage en France : « Paysages d’ici et d’ailleurs : regards croisés sur quelques démarches paysagères à différentes échelles, de part et d’autre de frontière », organisées par le Conseil de l’Europe et le Ministère de la transition écologique et solidaire de la France, que je remercie de son grand intérêt pour les travaux menés en faveur de la mise en œuvre de ladite convention, à présent ratifiée par 39 Etats membres du Conseil de l’Europe. Cette rencontre a permis de connaître les politiques et les pratiques développées dans d’autres Etats, et de promouvoir la coopération internationale afin de favoriser des politiques publiques susceptibles de répondre aux aspirations et demandes des populations quant à des paysages de qualité. 10th Plenary meeting of the European Committee on Democracy and Governance (CDDG), 10 December Yesterday, I opened the second day of the 10th plenary session of our intergovernmental committee on Democracy and Governance (CDDG) together with Mr Michal Bagačka, State Secretary responsible for Public Administration of the Slovak Republic. I took this opportunity to congratulate the committee for its work and to note that over the past few years, the findings of many Council of Europe monitoring bodies have highlighted growing concerns as regards the good functioning of European democracies and citizens’ decreasing levels of trust in public institutions. The CDDG addresses these issues and tries to provide solutions by acting as a forum 5 SG/Com(2019)1363 for discussion where member states share their experience of ongoing reforms or by developing legal standards and soft law instruments such as the important topic of public ethics and e-democracy. I encouraged the CDDG to be ambitious in its work during the next biennium in light of the terms of reference decided by the Committee of Ministers. This work covers important emerging challenges, such as digital transformation and the impact of technology, including artificial intelligence and the work carried out by the Ad Hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence (CAHAI), electoral processes, governance and democratic institutions. 30th Anniversary of the North-South Centre : “The North-South Centre: A Council of Europe window to the world” and Roundtable, 10 December On 10 December, I participated in the Roundtable “A long path to solidarity in an interdependent globalised world. How far have we gone? Where are we heading to?” held on the occasion of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of our Centre. It was an excellent initiative of Ambassador Montobbio, in his capacity as Chair of the Executive Committee of the North-South Centre, to organise this event which provided an interesting reflection on the global challenges Europe was facing in 1989 when the North-South Centre was established. The “Vision Paper” on the origins of the Centre and its strategic future orientation drawn by Ambassador Montobbio provided a valuable background for this debate.