Press Release

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zoran Petrov, took part in the Forum of the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe, held in Lisbon on 4-5 November.

The North-South Centre of the Council of Europe is an intergovernmental autonomous institution which was established in 1990 in Lisbon as a partial agreement (Its full name is European Centre for Global Interdependence and Solidarity) for the purpose of developing a network of cooperation between the European countries aimed at raising public awareness on the issues of global interdependence and interconnectedness, as well as promoting policies for developing solidarity which are complementary to the goals and principles of the Council of Europe, i.e. the respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

The topic of this year’s North-South Centre Forum was the freedom of expression, conscience and religion. The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zoran Petrov, delivered an address at the Forum on behalf of the Macedonian Chairmanship of the Council of Europe in which he emphasized the importance of solidarity, interreligious dialogue and tolerance as the key values which provide peace, stability and prosperity on the European continent. Furthermore, Deputy Minister Petrov presented the activities that have been pursued under the Chairmanship, underlining the ones which contributed to the promotion of interreligious and intercultural dialogue, such as the annual “Exchange of the Council of Europe on Intercultural Dialogue” which took place in Ohrid, as well as the joint initiative with Secretary-General Jagland which lead to organizing the Conference on the Roma in Strasbourg.

At the Lisbon Forum margins, Deputy Minister Petrov had meetings with the UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations, Jorge Sampaio, who also delivered the closing address at the Forum, as well as with the State Secretary for European Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, Pedro Lourtie.