DUSHANBE, June 7, 2011, Asia-Plus — On Monday June 6, President Emomali Rahmon met in Strasbourg, France with the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland.
According to the presidential press service, the two vowed to boost bilateral cooperation in various fields. In the course of the talks, Mr. Jagland noted that Emomali Rahmon was the first president from the Central Asian region visit the Council of Europe. Tajik president, for his part, expressed confidence that the meeting would promote further development of political dialogue between Tajikistan and the Council of Europe and expansion of long-term mutually beneficial cooperation of Tajikistan with member states of the Council of Europe.
At the end of the meeting, President Rahmon invited the Secretary of General of the Council of Europe to pay visit to Tajikistan. The meeting reportedly resulted in signing of a Convention on recognition by Europe of higher education obtained in Tajikistan.
The Council of Europe is an international organization promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural cooperation. It was founded in 1949, has 47 member states with some 800 million citizens, and is an entirely separate body from the European Union (EU), which has only 27 member states. Unlike the EU, the Council of Europe cannot make binding laws. The two do however share certain symbols such as the flag of Europe. The Council of Europe has nothing to do with either the Council of the European Union or the European Council, which are both EU bodies.
The best known bodies of the Council of Europe are the European Court of Human Rights, which enforces the European Convention on Human Rights, and the European Pharmacopoeia Commission, which sets the quality standards for pharmaceutical products in Europe. The Council of Europe”s work has resulted in standards, charters and conventions to facilitate cooperation between European countries.
