OSCE Centre marks anniversary of Helsinki Final Act with lectures on international relations in Ashgabat
ASHGABAT, 28 September 2010 - A series of OSCE-organized lectures on international relations and international politics, held to mark the anniversary of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, concluded today in Ashgabat.
Organized by the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat in close co-operation with Turkmenistan's Foreign Ministry, the lectures provided in-depth information to promote a better understanding of international affairs, international relations and politics among scholars, intellectuals and politicians in Turkmenistan.
Ambassador Markku Reimaa, who served as the Head of the Special Mission of Finland to the CSCE in Vienna 1986-1989, delivered two lectures at the Institute of International Relations, focusing on the OSCE's predecessor, the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and on multilateral non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
More than 80 representatives from the Foreign Ministry and its Institute of International relations, several universities and institutions as well as the Mejlis (Parliament), attended the lectures. Officers from law-enforcement and military agencies also took part in the lecture on non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
In another move to mark the Helsinki Final Act anniversary, the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat launched a Turkmen translation of Reimaa's book "Helsinki Catch", which chronicles the historic developments and OSCE's operations from 1968 to the early 1990s.
"This a timely effort in view of the forthcoming OSCE Summit, to be held in Astana in December," said Anne Suotula, the Office-in-Charge of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat.
Reimaa added: "The Helsinki Final Act remains relevant today. It calls for normal and friendly relations and behavior between the states to build mutual confidence in concrete actions, broadening of mutual knowledge through expanded exchange of information and the implementation of the agreed measures so that the citizens can benefit from them."