Re-opening transport routes could contribute to solving frozen conflicts, say participants at OSCE Economic Forum

PRAGUE, 24 May 2006 - Re-opening transport routes in regions paralyzed by frozen conflicts could help promote peace, leaders said at the 14th OSCE Economic Forum, which concluded today.

"Everything must be done to entice parties to a conflict to find complementary ways to overcome their differences," said Pierre Chevalier, Special Envoy of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office. "One possible contribution in this respect is to lay emphasis on the economic and social interests they have in common in addition to, or alongside, the reasons lying at the basis of the conflict itself."

Special Envoy Chevalier, who chaired the Forum, noted that projects proposed after an OSCE Needs Assessment Study in the South Ossetia region included transportation infrastructure. A donors' conference will be held in Brussels on 14 June. He also welcomed plans for a rail road project connecting Russia, Abkhazia and Tbilisi in Georgia, and Yerevan, Armenia.

Bernard Snoy, the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, said that conflicts had disrupted once-flourishing trade patterns in the South Caucasus and Moldova's Transdniestran regions by forcing goods to be transported on illogical and inefficient routes.

The 370 participants from 60 countries paid particular attention to the transportation challenges faced by landlocked countries. In a joint statement, four landlocked States - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - called on the OSCE and its participating States to co-operate to support trade and transport in Central Asian countries. They also called for stronger OSCE involvement in the development of transport communications and urged the OSCE's December Ministerial Council Meeting in Brussels to take a decision on developing mechanisms to assist OSCE States in carrying out their transport tasks.

Other key issues at the Forum included the importance of co-operation with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe; creating a long-term dialogue on transportation in the OSCE area; the key role of governance; co-operation to promote security; and the protection of the environment.

The three-day Prague meeting followed the first part of the Economic Forum, held in January in Vienna. Preparatory conferences were held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan and Baku, Azerbaijan. Several follow-up activities, including regional workshops and training programmes, are planned for the coming months.