Secretariat - Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities

The Economic and Environmental Forum is the main and the highest level annual meeting within the economic and environmental dimension of the OSCE. It focuses every year on a theme proposed by the Chairmanship and agreed upon by the 56 participating States. Its objective is to give political stimulus to the dialogue on economic and environmental issues linked to security and to contribute to the elaboration of specific recommendations and follow-up activities to address these challenges. It also reviews the implementation of the participating States'¬ commitments in the economic and environmental dimension.

The Forum meetings bring together every year more that 400 participants representing governments, civil society, business community and other international organizations, to engage in dialogue and consultations on how to address and identify practical solutions for common economic and environmental concerns.

Preparatory Conferences
Each Economic and Environmental Forum is preceded by a series of expert level preparatory conferences aimed at assisting the participating States to prepare for that year's Forum.

The Economic and Environmental Forum in 2008
The 16th Economic and Environmental Forum will focus on "Maritime and inland waterways co-operation in the OSCE area: Increasing security and protecting the environment".
It will be held in two parts: 28 - 29 January 2008 in Vienna and 19 - 21 May 2008 in Prague. A first preparatory Conference was held in Helsinki on 10-11 September 2007. A second one will take place in Turkmenistan on 6-7 March 2008.

Themes of past OSCE Economic Forums
2007: 15th Economic and Environmental Forum: Key challenges to ensure environmental security and sustainable development in the OSCE area: Land degradation, soil contamination and water management
2006 - 14th Economic Forum: Transportation in the OSCE area: Secure transportation networks and transport development to enhance regional economic co-operation and stability
2005 - 13th Economic Forum: Demographic Trends, Migration and Integrating Persons belonging to National Minorities: Ensuring Security and Sustainable Development in the OSCE Area
2004 - 12th Economic Forum: New challenges for building up institutional and human capacity for economic development and co-operation
2003 - 11th Economic Forum: Trafficking in human beings, drugs, small arms and light weapons: National and international economic impact
2002 - 10th Economic Forum: Co-operation for the sustainable use and the protection of quality of water in the context of the OSCE
2001 - 9th Economic Forum: Transparency and good governance in economic matters
2000 - 8th Economic Forum: Economic aspects of post-conflict rehabilitation: The challenges of transformation
1999 - 7th Economic Forum: Security aspects in the field of the environment
1998 - 6th Economic Forum: Security aspects of energy developments in the OSCE area
1997 - 5th Economic Forum: Market economy and the rule of law
1996 - 4th Economic Forum: Economic aspects of security and the OSCE role
1995 - 3rd Economic Forum: Regional, subregional and transborder co-operation, and the stimulation of trade, investment and development of infrastructure
1994 - 2nd Economic Forum: Transition process to democratic market economies
1993 - 1st Economic Forum: Transition process to democratic market economies