Brussels, 27/08/2004 (Agence Europe) - The meeting of the Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will be opened in Oslo on 7 September by the President of the Assembly, Peter Schieder, and the President of the Storting, Joergen Kosmo. The parliamentarians on the Standing Committee will meet with the President of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers, Jan Petersen, Norwegian foreign minister, and will discuss the role of the Council of Europe's Development Bank with the President of the Bank's Governing Council, Orhan Guvenen. They will also discuss counterfeiting, the European audiovisual sector and men's responsibility for reproductive health.
On the same day, the Assembly's Bureau will be meeting behind closed doors to discuss the parliamentary assistance programmes with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, and the observer mission to Kazakhstan's 19 September general elections and Ukraine's 31 October general elections. The new Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Terry Davis (whose term of office starts on 1 September) will make his first address to the Bureau at the same meeting.