Portuguese Chairmanship urges Belarus to comply with OSCE commitments

VIENNA, 10 September 2002 - The Portuguese OSCE Chairmanship has issued the following statement:

Despite all efforts made by the OSCE Chairmanship, through direct contacts with Minsk, to overcome the current difficulties between Belarus and the OSCE, the Belarusian Government informed the OSCE that it has refused to extend the visa of the last remaining member for external relations of the Advisory and Monitoring Group (AMG).

The OSCE Chairmanship considers that this attitude by the Belarus authorities does not contribute to the desirable normalization of relations between Belarus and the OSCE.

The Government of Belarus must comply with its obligations undertaken within the OSCE and understand that such a step can only harm the interests of Belarus.

For that purpose, a continuation of the co-operation between the OSCE and Belarus is essential and the work of the AMG has to be considered a key element of it. In the present circumstances the AMG is no longer in a position to perform its duties.

The OSCE is ready to pursue consultations on the future work of the OSCE in Belarus and the Chairmanship already informed the Belarusian authorities of its intentions to urgently pursue contacts with them at appropriate level in order to discuss concrete proposals.