OSCE's 15th Ministerial Council begins in Madrid

MADRID, 29 November 2007 - The OSCE's 15th Ministerial Council began today in Madrid, with foreign ministers and high-level representatives from the 56 OSCE countries set to discuss a wide-ranging agenda that includes bids for the OSCE Chairmanship, the role of the OSCE in Kosovo, sideline negotiations on a key European arms control treaty and the activities of the Organization's election observers.

Spain, which holds the OSCE Chairmanship for 2007, is hosting the two-day gathering, which is the central decision-making and governing body of the OSCE.

"Here in this Organization we are debating the fundamental challenges of our time, with respect for the sensitivities, thinking and different traditions of our countries in order to come together on common values," said Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero at the opening ceremony.

"The OSCE affords us a tool of unquestionable value to build a Eurasian forum for peace, security and shared experience, a forum for dialogue and multicultural co-operation across the Atlantic, allowing us to face the challenges of the 21st century. For that reason Spain has shouldered a commitment to the challenges of the Chairmanship and pledged to this essential endeavour of the OSCE. From a politically constructive dialogue emerges consensus, hence the importance of this Ministerial meeting."

The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, said: "My experience in leading the OSCE has shown that we are at a difficult crossroads. The Organization continues to be essential as a permanent forum for dialogue. The multi-dimensional architecture of security that the OSCE should preserve should not be reduced."

Minister Moratinos called on the participating States to work constructively to achieve consensus on the decisions to be taken at the meeting.

"Hopefully we will be capable at this Ministerial meeting to set our course towards strengthening our organization and resolving the persistent conflicts, creating an appropriate instrument for achieving our objectives and demonstrating to the world that we are capable of adapting to the requirements of the 21st century," he said.

The participating States will decide who will hold the OSCE Chairmanship after Finland's term in 2008. Greece, Kazakhstan and Lithuania have submitted bids to hold the Chairmanships between the years 2009 and 2011.

The future role of the OSCE in Kosovo will also be discussed. The OSCE Mission in Kosovo is the Organization's largest field operation with 1,000 staff, and its mandate expires at the end of the year.

The activities of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the OSCE's elections monitoring body, will be addressed.

Discussions on the future of the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) are taking place on the sidelines of the Ministerial Council. Although not an OSCE document, the CFE Treaty, which entered into force on 1992 and governs cuts in conventional military arsenals, was negotiated in parallel with talks among participating States on confidence-building measures.

The annual Ministerial Council provides the 56 OSCE participating States the opportunity to review and assess the Organization's activities during the past year, as well as to approve a series of decisions for action and possible declarations on a range of subjects. The meeting also brings together representatives from the OSCE's 11 Asian and Mediterranean Partners and international organizations, which observe the proceedings.

Decisions expected to be taken in Madrid address, among other matters, engagement with Afghanistan, public-private partnerships to counter terrorism and environment and security, reflecting the Spanish Chairmanship's priorities focusing on the fight against terrorism, protecting the environment and strengthening the OSCE's role as a forum for dialogue.

The Spanish Chairmanship has also emphasized the need for the Organization to embody the environmental principles it advocates, and this year's Ministerial Council is the first to be "carbon neutral", with the estimated 900 tonnes of carbon dioxide generated by the event offset by buying Emissions Unit Allowances on the European Union Emission Trading System.