Partnerships

The Organization’s most important large partner organizations are the United Nations, the European Union, the Council of Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as several other partner organizations. To maintain these relationships, the OSCE Secretariat organizes regular bilateral and multilateral meetings at the level of headquarters to build synergies and draw on the strengths and comparative advantages of each organization.

Since 1992, when the participating States declared the CSCECSCE
Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe "a regional arrangement in the sense of Chapter VIII of the Charter of the United Nations", the partnership with the UN occupies a special place for the OSCE. The Organization supports the UN in maintaining peace and security at the regional level and serves as a forum for co-operation with regional and sub-regional organizations and initiatives in the OSCE area.

To address the potential spillover of security threats between the OSCE area and neighbouring regions, the Organization also works with regional organizations from outside the OSCE area. The goal is to share experience and best practices in early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management, post-conflict rehabilitation, promotion of human rights and democratic elections. Several regional organizations have also shown considerable interest in learning more about the OSCE and its norms and principles.

The push for new partnerships with organizations outside the OSCE area dates back to the early 2000s. In 2001, the OSCE Bucharest Plan of Action for Combating Terrorism referred to the need to broaden the dialogue with regional organizations beyond the OSCE area, such as the Shanghai Co-operation Organization, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (formerly known as the Organization of the Islamic Conference), the Arab League and the African Union. The 2003 Maastricht Strategy called for further development of contacts with organizations in other regions and consideration of ways in which OSCE norms, principles, commitments and values could be shared with other regions, particularly neighbouring areas.