Collective effort, political commitment required to address conflicts, transnational threats, say participants at OSCE Annual Security Review Conference

Finding common responses to security threats and challenges as the Organization moves towards a Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security community was the topic of the OSCE Annual Security Review Conference that started in Vienna on 19 June 2013.

The conference brought together some 200 officials, experts and researchers from 57 OSCE participating States, OSCE Partners for Co-operation, as well as international and regional organizations to discuss transnational threats and challenges; preventing and resolving conflicts; conventional arms control and confidence- and security-building measures, as well as issues related to Afghanistan.

Andrii Olefirov, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine, OSCE 2013 Chairmanship, in his opening address stressed the need for practical implementation of the existing commitments on dynamically evolving transnational threats, and said that efforts must be put into making sure that “the OSCE remains relevant and effective in addressing these threats”.

“Protracted conflicts in the OSCE area remain a serious threat to the regional stability and thus a major concern to all participating States,” he said. “The efforts aimed at the conflict resolution must be stepped up, including those to promote dialogue between the parties, build confidence and reconcile the societies. Political will of the parties and their commitment to peaceful resolution remain key factors in the conflict settlement.” Olefirov warned that recent “troubling developments have a potential to deepen the existing divisions”.

He also spoke about conventional arms control and confidence- and security-building measures as essential components of the OSCE’s comprehensive approach to security that must be “updated, revitalized and modernized”, the need to further enhance the OSCE’s profile in countering the threat of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and to address security implications that the 2014 withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan will have for OSCE participating States and for the entire OSCE area. “Supporting and assisting Afghanistan as the OSCE partner for co-operation to the extent needed is in our common interest,” Olefirov said.

The OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier stressed the importance of a broad inclusive dialogue on security issues: “The OSCE is not a niche organization, it does not operate in a narrow, specialized field,” he said. “Rather its strength, and hence its place in a security system lies in bringing together all actors.” The Security Days event held before the Conference that brought together researchers, academics and civil society representatives, is an illustration of such approach, he said.

Other keynote speakers at the event included Maciej Popowski, Deputy Secretary General for Inter-institutional Affairs of the European External Action Service; Aleksey Meshkov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister; and Eric Rubin, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of State.

The two-day event is part of the Helsinki+40 process aimed at revitalizing and strengthening the OSCE as it moves towards 2015 when the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Helsinki Final Act will be marked.