14/03/2011 President
Strasbourg, 14.03.2011 – PACE President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has hailed the Council of Europe as a masterpiece of international leadership – but called for current leaders to be as “strong, virtuous and far-sighted” as their forefathers during a challenging and uncertain period for Europe and the world.
Addressing the “Leaders of Change Summit” in Istanbul during a session on international leadership in the modern age, the President warned that the challenge today was no smaller than 60 years ago when the Council was founded: “It seems nowadays that our differences are again becoming more important than what we have in common. Let us concentrate on our common future and not revive the evils of history again.”
The two-day summit, which was opened by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan today, is being attended by global statesmen, academic leaders and business executives from around the world, including the Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov, member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bakir Izetbegovic and a number of Foreign Ministers, as well as former heads of state and government. Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Nobel prize-winner Al Gore will also participate.