OSCE invites Yugoslavia to join as participating State

VIENNA, 19 October 2000 - An official invitation has been extended to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to join the Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) as a participating State.

Following is the text of a letter sent by OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Austrian Foreign Minister Benita Fererro-Waldner, sent to President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Vojislav Kostunica on 17 October.

Excellency:

Following my statement at the occasion of the recent European Council Meeting in Biarritz it is with great pleasure and satisfaction that I most formally, as Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), wish to invite the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to join the OSCE as participating State.

The democratic change that has taken place in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, expressed by the election of a new leadership, now offers the long awaited possibility for a new relationship between the OSCE and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Opinions expressed by OSCE participating States all show a readiness to move in the direction of having the FRY as participating State within the OSCE.

Furthermore, intensive consultations show that the FRY's application should take into account the international position on the succession to the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the sense that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is one of the successor states of the former SFRY. Your application should therefore in its contents be comparable to the application letters addressed by the other SFRY successor states to previous OSCE Chairmanships.

Dear Mr. President, as Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE I would like to welcome the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia a participating State in the OSCE if possible on the occasion of the Ministerial Conference on 27 November 2000 and I am ready to provide any support in this important matter. As soon as a federal Government is formed, I proposed to send a team of experts to Belgrade to discuss this and other relevant issues. Let me assure you that it is the expressed will of OSCE participating States to assist the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on its way to full democratization.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Benita Fererro-Waldner

NOTE: Further information on the OSCE and its involvement with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is available on the OSCE website at: //www.osce.org

For further information contact the Press and Public Information Section of the OSCE Secretariat, tel.: (+ 43-1) 514 36 180 or e-mail: info@osce.org