POLITICS
OSCE MEETING TO DISCUSS “FROZEN CONFLICTS”
As earlier reported, the OSCE Ministerial Council takes place in Helsinki on Thursday 4 and Friday 5 December.
Conflict resolution in order to prevent events like the recent war between Russia and Georgia is a key issue for the 56-nation Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said. Finland holds the OSCE Chairmanship in 2008.
Mr. Stubb, who holds the rotating chairmanship, welcomed some 50 foreign ministers along with Finnish President Taarja Halonen as the 16th ministerial conference gets underway today.
Mr. Stubb said the chairmanship year included “some bad news,” specifically mentioning the “ferocious conflict and war in Georgia.”
The recent Geneva talks between the parties were welcomed by Stubb, who also looked forward to a discussion on proposals for a new European security structure floated by Russia and France, among others.
The OSCE evolved from the Helsinki process that in 1975, during the Cold War, saw the signing of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Among the foreign ministers present in the Finnish capital were Russia`s Sergei Lavrov, Bernard Kouchner of France, Britain`s David Miliband, and Germany`s Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Absent was US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who traveled to India and Pakistan in an attempt to defuse tensions between the two neighbors after the recent attacks in Mumbai.
The OSCE`s activities include election monitoring. It has also been engaged in efforts to solve so-called frozen conflicts involving the breakaway regions of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan and Transnistria in Moldova.
Foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia are expected to meet in the frame of this meting.
Mr. Stubb and other speakers also noted the organization`s efforts to tackle human trafficking and drugs.
The Ministerial Council is the central decision-making and governing body of the OSCE. Convened in years when there is no OSCE Summit, it allows the Foreign Ministers of OSCE participating States to review and assess the activities of the Organization.