OSCE Magazine devotes special coverage to border security and management

VIENNA, 20 July 2006 - The OSCE's accelerated push to assist countries in their efforts to manage their borders and keep them safe and secure from today's new threats is the focus of the July issue of the OSCE Magazine.

"The challenge is how to ensure that frontiers serve as gateways for co-operation rather than as obstacles to good-neighbourly relations," said Ambassador Lamberto Zannier, Director of the OSCE's Conflict Prevention Centre, in an editorial.

In the lead article, Hungarian Ambassador Marianne Berecz, who headed a working group that drew up the OSCE's first-ever Border Security and Management Concept, shares her personal insights into the participating States' vision of "open and secure borders."

The special coverage features articles on how the OSCE is translating its concept into specially tailored and realistic activities on the ground. Early lessons learned from the Organization's first large-scale programme of its kind - promoting joint cross-border activities in south-eastern Europe - come in for close scrutiny.

To mark the handover of the EU presidency from Austria to Finland, the publication also carries an interview with Austrian Ambassador Margit Waestfelt describing how EU States work within the OSCE.

Other articles spotlight the Republic of Montenegro's debut on the international stage as it took its seat at the OSCE's Permanent Council, the achievements of the Skopje Mission and its host country in decentralizing governance under the Ohrid Framework Agreement, and the ten-year anniversary of the "Florence Agreement" (Article IV, Annex 1-B) focusing on arms control under the Dayton Peace Accords.

Published in English and Russian, the OSCE Magazine can be accessed on www.osce.org, where readers can also subscribe to the print version.

The Magazine's contact address is: osce-magazine-at@osce.org