"Europe is currently facing a number of serious problems. As we move forward, joint cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Council of Europe will be more important than ever."

APA reports that Bjorn Berge, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, said this in a video address to the participants at the event dedicated to 20 years of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Council of Europe, which was jointly organized by the Baku Office of the Council of Europe, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and ADA University.

"This shows our commitment to the cooperation of both the Council of Europe and the Republic of Azerbaijan and the work we have done together over the past 20 years," said Berge.

After becoming a member of the Council of Europe, Azerbaijan signed and ratified 65 conventions of the Council of Europe and joined 9 Partial Agreements.

The Deputy Secretary General spoke about the recent ratification of the Lanzarote Convention (Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Offenses) and emphasized the importance of this step for the health and well-being of current and future young generations.

Berge said that the Council of Europe has contributed to Azerbaijan's first National Action Plan for combating domestic violence through cooperation initiatives with Azerbaijan "especially for women to be able to live in more secure conditions".

Work continues on legislation to provide free legal aid and enforcement of court decisions "to make justice more accessible and robust".

Azerbaijan has benefited from the special support of the Council of Europe through three jointly agreed Action Plans, including the plan launched by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and Minister of Justice Fikret Mammadov in April of this year.

The new priorities of the action plan include the fight against discrimination, freedom of expression and the fight against human trafficking.

Björn Berge spoke about the possibilities of future cooperation and expressed confidence that the cooperation will expand further in the coming years.

He specially mentioned the field of intercultural dialogue, where Baku regularly hosts the World Forum.

He noted that Azerbaijan's great interest in restarting our cooperation on interreligious dialogue is highly appreciated.