INGOs Conference of the Council of Europe Furthermore, since 2006 the INGO Conference organises Regional NGO Congresses designed for NGOs from Central and Eastern European countries. They took place in Warsaw, Kiev, Penza/Russian Federation and, last June 2010, Vilnius/Lithuania. INGOs Conference of the Council of Europe The INGO (international non-governmental organisations) Conference is the body representing civil society in the Council of Europe, a European organisation founded in 1949. The Council of Europe has 47 member States with some 800 million citizens and its seat is in Strasbourg, France. The INGO Conference of the Council of Europe is a space for free and innovative participation of committed
Member states of the Council of Europe president Nursultan Nazarbayev in Astana in 2008. In December 2013, a Joint Declaration on enhancing cooperation between Kazakhstan and the Council of Europe in 2014–15, was signed with the purpose of paving the way for Kazakhstan's accession to the Council of Europe's multiple conventions in the field of criminal justice. Hashim Thaçi, Kosovo's Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated in December 2014 that an application for membership of the Council of Europe was planned to be filed within the first quarter of 2015. Observer status was designed for non-European democracies willing to contribute to democratic transitions in Europe. Canada, Japan, Mexico,