Crisis in Georgia challenge for OSCE arms control and confidence-building regime, Finnish official says

VIENNA, 10 September 2008 - The crisis in Georgia has changed the politico-military situation in the OSCE area in a way that must be taken into account by the OSCE and its Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC), Pauli Järvenpää, the head of the defence policy department at the Finnish Defence Ministry, told the Forum today.

"The crisis in Georgia is also a challenge for the arms control and confidence-building regimes upheld by the OSCE and the FSC," he said in a speech marking the beginning of Finland's four-month chairmanship of the Forum. "We firmly believe our focus should now be on how to ensure the effective implementation of these regimes in the new, more difficult situation."

Järvenpää said that Finland, which takes over the FSC Chairmanship from Estonia, sought to intensify the implementation of OSCE politico-military agreements, including the Vienna Document of 1999, the Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security as well as the Documents on Small Arms and Light Weapons and on Stockpiles of Conventional Ammunition.

"Finland will strive to deepen the Forum's security dialogue, the recent revitalization of which we welcome heartily. The FSC is uniquely placed to debate all European security issues: its mandate should be, in our view, be utilized in full," he said.

The FSC meets weekly in Vienna to discuss and take decisions regarding military aspects of security in the OSCE area, in particular confidence- and security-building measures. Since its creation in 1992, the Forum has agreed on documents and decisions on arms control, disarmament and confidence-building measures.

Finland also holds the overall OSCE Chairmanship in 2008.