Fight against terrorism, environment protection and pluralism among OSCE priorities for 2007-Chairman

VIENNA, 11 January 2007 - The fight against terrorism, protecting the environment, encouraging participation in pluralistic societies and strengthening the OSCE's role as a forum for dialogue and co-operation are among the Organization's priorities for 2007, the new OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, said today.

In a speech to the Organization's Permanent Council, Minister Moratinos noted how far the OSCE and its participating States had progressed in the past decades. But he said the area still faced several challenges.

"Project Europe is still unfinished," he said. "At the outset, the OSCE was intended to make Europe a space of peace, security, freedom and co-operation, with all ideological confrontations overcome. We still have to continue working to this goal."

In the fight against terrorism, the OSCE will work on many fronts, including enhancing legal co-operation and strengthening travel document security, the Chairman-in-Office said, adding that promoting the protection and recognition of terrorism victims was vitally important.

Among challenges needing attention are the so-called "frozen conflicts" in Georgia, Moldova and Nagorno-Karabakh, he said, adding that the OSCE would focus on building relations between communities and peoples on all sides of the conflicts.

"In each of these disputes, walls have been built up, dividing peoples, and these walls must be torn down. To achieve a sustainable solution, we must intervene now to provide a solid basis for progress," he said.

The OSCE also has a strong role to play in providing for environmental security, and the Spanish chairmanship would work to gain recognition of the problem of land degradation and soil contamination as serious security threats, Minister Moratinos said. It would also work to foster greater participation and diversity in pluralistic societies.

The Minister also said: "The Spanish Chairmanship hopes that on the occasion of the Madrid Ministerial Council (in late November) it will be possible to announce future chairmanships of our Organization, including Kazakhstan."

Ministers at the 2006 Ministerial Council in Brussels postponed their decision on whether to approve Kazakhstan's bid to chair the Organization in 2009.

The Organization "is a key element in responding to the challenges we face", the Chairman-in-Office said. "It is still the forum for raising key questions and issues concerning the future of Europe; concerning shared values; concerning the full implementation of the commitments agreed upon by our 56 States; concerning how to address new problems regarding security and to continue to resolve those that are long-standing."