Events in Macedonia prompt discussion of democratic security - Lavrov tells CoE chief
BRUSSELS. May 18 (Interfax) - The events in Macedonia have shown it is high time to discuss democratic security, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a meeting with Council of Europe (CoE) Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland.
At the beginning of the talks the Russian minister stressed the importance of CoE-organized events in honor of May 9. "Before we start I would like to thank you once again for organizing the festivities on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War," Lavrov told Jagland.
"I also want to thank you for your report (prepared for the May 19 session of the CoE Committee of Ministers), which creates a very reliable basis for our joint efforts to consolidate the unity of the CoE members on the basis of a common legal space for all CoE countries," he said.
"This is key to ensuring unity across the continent," the minister said
Jaglad pointed out that the subject of providing democratic security, raised by him in the report, has become particularly important in recent years. He said he is glad to have the opportunity to discuss these issues with Lavrov before tomorrow's session.
"Given what is happening in Macedonia, now is the right time to think how to provide democratic security," Lavrov added for his part.
The Russian minister is the in the Belgian capital on May 18-19 to attend a ministerial session of the CoE Committee of Ministers. The main events of the forum, including Jagland's report, will be held on Tuesday.
