Kanerva highlights OSCE PA’s Helsinki +40 Project, meets Serbian FM at seminar

COPENHAGEN, 9 October 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) underscored the vital contribution of the PA to the OSCE’s reform efforts on the 40th anniversary of its founding document at a seminar today in Helsinki.

Kanerva also met with Serbian Foreign Minister and 2015 OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ivica Dacic following the event, for talks that focused on Belgrade’s priorities for its leadership of the Organization.

The OSCE PA President offered introductory remarks at the seminar, which was organized by The Finnish Committee for European Security and the Finnish Institute of International Affairs under the theme “OSCE – The Litmus Test of an evolving security community?”

Kanerva presented the OSCE PA’s Helsinki +40 Project, a series of seminars at top think-tanks that brings together lawmakers, academicians and experts to evaluate the OSCE's past and chart lines of action to ensure its continued effectiveness. The Project’s first seminar was hosted by the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) in Moscow on 25 September and will be followed by events at the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) in Washington in November and at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in Stockholm in March 2015. 

The Project will culminate in a final Colloquium organized by the Finnish Institute of International Affairs in Finlandia Hall, the site of the signing of the OSCE's founding document, the Helsinki Final Act of 1975. The final Colloquium will be held in July 2015, in parallel with the 24th Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

Kanerva also expressed the Assembly’s strong support for the OSCE’s efforts to facilitate a political solution to the crisis in the Ukraine, highlighting the PA’s constructive parliamentary contribution to the process. 

He noted the Assembly’s upcoming observation mission for Ukraine’s parliamentary elections, including the PA’s leadership of OSCE short-term observers. Kanerva also underscored the Ukraine resolution adopted by OSCE parliamentarians at the 2014 PA Annual Session in Baku, which clearly states the position of the PA regarding the crisis in Ukraine. He also discussed efforts to convene an Interparliamentary Liaison Group on Ukraine to bring together Russian, Ukrainian and other parliamentarians to help defuse the crisis.

President Kanerva also described his recent meetings with high-ranking officials from Russia and Ukraine, emphasizing the need for all OSCE participating States to maintain respect for basic OSCE principles, values and commitments.

Kanerva met with Serbian Foreign Minister and 2015 OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ivica Dacic following the seminar’s conclusion.

The two discussed Serbia's priorities for its upcoming Chairmanship of the OSCE and had a frank exchange of views on the challenges the Organization faces, especially with respect to the situation in Ukraine.