Heads of UN and OSCE stress significance of alliances among civilizations

NEW YORK, 21 September 2005 - The Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, ended his participation at the United Nations General Assembly yesterday with a meeting with its Secretary-General, Kofi Annan.

Their discussion ranged over the Outcome Document of the just-concluded UN World Summit, to the need for dialogue and alliances among civilizations, reform of the UN, and co-operation between the OSCE and the UN.

Minister Rupel expressed his support for the continuation of efforts to fulfill the obligations set out in the Outcome Document. He said the document was a good base for the work that needed to be done.

"UN reform is extremely important and comes at exactly the right moment. This is also a time of change in many international organizations; the European Union and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe are also changing," he said. "But we do realize that the process of change is always difficult."

Minister Rupel presented Secretary-General Annan with the proposals for reform of the OSCE and also used the occasion to invite him to participate in the December OSCE Ministerial Council in Ljubljana.

"This year we celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act, which was the beginning of the OSCE. Thirty years ago the coming together of East and West began, and today our main task is to bring the civilizations together. This may be the main added value of the Outcome Document," said Rupel.

He added that the aligning and the encouragement of a dialogue among civilizations in the future would doubtless also be one of the central themes of the Slovenia's OSCE Chairmanship.

Secretary-General Annan commended Slovenia for its activities during its Chairmanship of the OSCE and stressed the importance of co-operation of regional organizations with the UN in several different areas.

The meeting between the heads of the UN and the OSCE also included a discussion on Kosovo, in which both men agreed that the international community should not allow the region to become destabilized.