OSCE Chairman-in-Office discusses anti-terrorism measures with Russian Foreign Minister

MOSCOW, 28 June 2002 - The OSCE Chairman in Office (CiO), Portuguese Foreign Minister Antonio Martins da Cruz, discussed the Organization's role in the fight against terrorism with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Igor Ivanov, on Friday.

Minister Martins da Cruz outlined plans for the OSCE Ministerial Council in Portugal in December, underlining the fact that the fight against terrorism remained a priority objective for the 55-nation Organization. Views were exchanged on the initiative to approve an OSCE Charter on Preventing and Combating Terrorism by December.

The CiO briefed Minister Ivanov on the recent anti-terrorism meeting in Lisbon of high officials of international organisations and on this week's meeting of the OSCE Troika.

The two ministers addressed the reform process now underway within the Organization, which they hope will lead to improved effectiveness and coherence and achieve a re-balancing of the three dimensions of its work - the political-military dimension, the economic and environmental dimension and the human dimension.

Both parties recognized the importance of the fulfilment of commitments entered into at the 1999 Istanbul Summit.

The ministers reviewed the prospects for progress in different regional conflicts, including Moldova/Transdnistria on the eve of a forthcoming meeting of parties and mediators. Developments in Chechnya were touched upon.

Further steps in efforts to overcome the impasse concerning the OSCE Mission to Belarus were also discussed.