OSCE Chairman calls for closer co-operation with Council of Europe

STRASBOURG, 23 February 2005 - The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, said on Wednesday that the OSCE and the Council of Europe should work together effectively on issues such as human rights and terrorism without stepping on each other's toes.

"Complementarity can be healthy as long as we do not waste resources, provoke forum shopping, or step on each other's toes in the field," he said in an address to the Committee of Ministers' Deputies of the Council of Europe.

"There are plenty of challenges for us to address in the human dimension, the fight against terrorism and trafficking in human beings, to name but a few of areas of overlap. There is always room for improvement in the way that we work and in our co-ordination".

The Chairman-in-Office said both organizations should concentrate on activities in the field.

The two bodies engage in similar activities, including implementing international standards and commitments on democratic elections, combating intolerance and discrimination, addressing the issue of human rights and terrorism, working in the fields of the rule of law, as well as freedom of the media.

"Both organizations make an important contribution to the process of consolidating security and prosperity across the continent," said the OSCE Chairman. "The magnitude and scope of the needs of member states is such that there are little grounds for worrying about having too many cooks in the kitchen".

Minister Rupel highlighted a number of country-specific and regional issues which the Slovenian OSCE Chairmanship is looking at with special interest this year, including Kosovo, Moldova, Ukraine, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

"We have no magic solutions, but we feel that targeted and pragmatic steps can contribute to thawing frozen conflicts, consolidating peace-building processes, and supporting democratization," he said.