Resolution of protracted conflicts crucial for OSCE, Lithuanian President says

VIENNA, 13 April 2011 – Protracted conflicts are of key importance to the OSCE, and efforts to resolve them are crucial to unity among the Organization’s 56 participating States, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite told the OSCE Permanent Council today.

Grybauskaite said there were opportunities to bring progress in the Transdniestrian conflict settlement process. She also said she would use a visit next month to the South Caucasus to encourage confidence-building measures, and called on all sides to invest in such measures.

“All sides need to go further in trust and confidence-building measures in the (South) Caucasus,” she said. “Small steps can have a big impact as we seek resolution to outstanding issues.”

She emphasized the importance of dialogue and co-operation in dealing with challenges such as protracted conflicts, cybercrime and terrorism. “It is important to be all the time together and finding joint solutions,” she said. “We will address risks and challenges we face only if we do it together.”

Regarding Tunisia and Morocco, which are OSCE Partners for Co-operation, the Organization is looking into in which areas it could support the countries in their transitions, she said, adding that the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis, will visit Tunisia later this week.

To combat the threat of illicit drugs and trafficking, Grybauskaite said that the OSCE was and would be “investing into training and border management programmes in Central Asia and Afghanistan”.

Discussing the importance of gender equality, Grybauskaite said that Lithuania, which also chairs the Community of Democracies, supported efforts “to strengthen the role of women in world leadership, to provide equal opportunities for women and men as well as to integrate gender equality into policies and practices”.

She called on all OSCE participating States to be more open to co-operation on nuclear power safety issues and to perform stress tests on nuclear power plants, saying the tragic events in Japan had proved that security must be increased.

She also highlighted the importance of the agreements made by leaders at the 2010 OSCE Summit, held in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana in December. 

The Permanent Council is one of the OSCE’s main regular decision-making bodies. It convenes weekly in Vienna to discuss developments in the OSCE area and to make appropriate decisions.