International meetings have dominated the schedule of the Monegasque government recently, with delegates from the Principality sent out to meetings across Europe.
Education summit at the Council of Europe
Between 28th and 29th September, Monaco’s Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe, Gabriel Revel, headed to Strasbourg for a meeting of the Council of Europe’s Standing Conference of Ministers of Education.
Representatives from the US, Japan, Mexico and the Vatican City joined those from Europe in discussing the Council’s new “Education Strategy for 2024/30”. As summarised by the Monegasque government, the strategy focuses on the three core pillars of: “renewing the democratic and civic mission of education; enhancing the social responsibility and responsiveness of education; and advancing education through a human-rights based digital transformation”.
It was also announced at the conference that a “European Year of Digital Citizenship Education” would take place in 2025; a project supported by 46 Member States.
Anti-violence group GREVIO visits Monaco
A delegation from GREVIO, the independent expert body responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, was received in the Principality between 2nd and 5th October.
Various local officials were invited to participate in a meeting with the representatives from GREVIO, including those from the Ministry of the Interior, the Department of Health and Social Affairs, the Centre Hospitalier Princesse Grace, IMSEE and the Department of Justice.
It was an opportunity for all concerned to present the efforts of their sector and those of the Principality as a whole in combatting violence against women and domestic violence in Monaco. A report by GREVIO specifically on Monaco is set to be published in June 2024.
Monaco at the World Health Organisation
A delegation led by Carole Lanteri, Permanent Representative of the Principality to the United Nations Office in Geneva, attended a meeting regarding potential updates to the World Health Organisation’s International Health Regulations (IHR) in Geneva between 2nd and 6th October.
On the agenda were proposed amendments relating to: points of entry; public health measures; health documents and the Emergency Committee.
The IHR are the only legally binding international instrument in the field of international health security. The original IHR were adopted in 1951 as a way of setting out “agreed approaches and obligations for countries to prepare for, and respond to, disease outbreaks and other acute public health events with risk of international spread”. The IHR have been revised three times since: in 1969, 1981 and 2005.
Next stop: Granada for the European Political Community meeting
A high-level meeting of 43 Heads of State and Government from the European Political Community was hosted by the Spanish city of Granada on 5th October.
Monegasque Minister of State Pierre Dartout was joined by Isabelle Berro-Amadeï, the Principality’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, as well as Frédéric Labarrère, the head of the Mission of Monaco to the European Union, Ambassador of Monaco to Spain Catherine Fautrier and Isabelle Costa, High Commissioner for European Affairs, at the event, which culminated in a spectacular dinner in the presence of the King and Queen of Spain at the Alhambra.
“The objective was to strengthen cohesion, cooperation and dialogue between all European countries, with a view to preserving peace and security on the continent,” reads a statement from the Monegasque government. “The representatives thus had the opportunity to discuss several topics of common interest, including the digital transition, artificial intelligence and current multilateral and geostrategic issues.”
Dartout also used the occasion to meet with his counterparts from Andorra and San Marino, as well as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, President of the Swiss Confederation Alain Berset and Iceland’s Prime Minister, Katrin Jakobsdóttir.
Monaco welcomes new ambassadors
On 6th October, Monaco’s Director of Diplomatic and Consular Relations, Marie-Catherine Caruso-Ravera, stepped in to replace Isabelle Berro-Amadeï, the Principality’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, in welcoming four new ambassadors.
These included: Gocha Javakhishvili of Georgia, Saïd Moussi of Algeria, Fahad al-Ruwaily of Saudi Arabia and Marc Ungeheuer of Luxembourg. Each of the men are also Ambassador to France for their respective nations.
The diplomats presented their credentials to Prince Albert II in the morning, ahead of a special lunch at the Hôtel Hermitage.
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Photo credits: Monaco Communications Department