| 8 June 2009 The opening of the information office of the Council of Europe in Minsk will become a significant event and a turning point in the relations between PACE and Belarus, Andrea Rigoni, PACE Rapporteur on Belarus, said as he met with Valery Ivanov, Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus on June 8. “We hope that opening of the information office is only the first step in cooperation development. We should reach a complete restoration of Belarus’ Special Guest Status in the PACE. The final decision will be taken in the PACE session on June 23. The restoration of the status will also become the next move in the dialogue development,” Andrea Rigoni said. The foreign guest informed that the Council of Europe PA sent an invitation to the Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly to participate in the PACE session on June 23. PACE is one of the working bodies of the Council of Europe that represents the interests of the major political parties in 46 member-states of the organisation. Valery Ivanov said that “the Belarusian side considers the opening of the information office in Minsk as a significant positive result of the cooperation between the PACE and the Republic of Belarus”. Belarus is interested in joining several legal instruments of the Council of Europe. Valery Ivanov stressed the importance of resuming regular meetings and contacts between the National Assembly of Belarus and PACE. Today there are information offices of the Council of Europe in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Montenegro, Czech Republic and Estonia.
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