Foreign Minister Marija Pejcinovic-Buric on Monday opened a conference on protecting minority rights and languages in Strasbourg, organised under Croatia’s chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE), the ministry said in a press release.

The conference was organised on the occasion of the Council of Europe celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages entering into force.

In her address, Pejcinovic-Buric said that Croatia was among the first signatories to both documents which testifies to the importance it applies to the issue of protecting national minorities. She added that Croatia was a frontrunner in Europe in the number of constitutionally recognised national minorities, the press release said.

In addition to Pejcinovic-Buric, the opening was attended by CoE Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland who conducted an official visit to Zagreb in April and on that occasion spoke about the high level of human and national minority rights protection in Croatia.

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