Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE), Thorbjorn Jagland, will arrive on an official visit to Croatia on Tuesday, CoE said, in a visit related to Croatia's upcoming turn to take the six-month chairmanship of the 47-member pan-European organisation in May.

During his visit, Jagland will meet with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Foreign Affairs Minister Marija Pejcinovic-Buric, and Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Zeljko Reiner.

On Friday, Jagland hailed Croatian Parliament’s decision to ratify the Istanbul Convention.

 “I welcome Croatia’s ratification of the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention with an impressive majority in Parliament today. This is excellent news before my visit next week,” Jagland said.

“Croatia’s path towards European integration and EU membership has been impressive. Now Croatia will be taking over the Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the 47-state Council of Europe at a crucial time. We will be discussing the current challenges in Europe and the priorities of Croatia’s chairmanship. I am very much looking forward to this visit,” added Jagland.

This will be the first time Croatia will take chairmanship of the Council of Europe since joining in November 1996, and will take over from Denmark. Member states take turns chairing the Strasbourg-based organisation which focuses on promoting human rights, democracy, and freedom of speech across Europe.