OSCE Summit offers chance to renew key confidence- and security-building commitments, says Irish Foreign Minister

VIENNA, 8 September 2010 - The forthcoming OSCE Summit in Astana in December offers a unique opportunity to renew key security and confidence-building commitments agreed by the 56 OSCE participating States, including the landmark Vienna Document, said Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin in an address to the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC) in Vienna today.

The session marked the start of Ireland's four-month chairmanship of the FSC, which meets weekly in Vienna to discuss and take decisions on aspects of security in the OSCE area, in particular arms control and confidence- and security-building measures.

Minister Martin said the Irish Chairmanship would press for progress on a range of FSC activities, including updating the Vienna Document, which obliges the participating States to share information on military activities and contains provisions on compliance and verification.

"This year, after an interval of eleven years, our leaders will meet at the OSCE Summit in Astana. Coming at the same time as the 35th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act, this Summit represents an important opportunity for the OSCE," he said.

"The improved mood on arms control generally, as marked by the signature of the new START Treaty, and the current effort to end the stalemate on the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, provides an ideal opening for progress on the Vienna Document."

Minister Martin said that Ireland would fund a number of FSC projects, including initiatives to dispose of air bombs in Moldova and rehabilitate areas in Ukraine affected by explosive remnants of war. He also announced that Ireland has contributed 75,000 euros to the OSCE Police Advisory Group for Kyrgyzstan.

Emphasizing that disarmament and the protection of civilians in armed conflict are core priorities of Irish foreign policy, the Minister underscored the importance of the international Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was agreed at a conference in Dublin in 2008 and which came into force on 1 August.

"It is most encouraging that to date 34 out of the 56 OSCE participating States have signed the Convention and that 18 of them have already ratified it. We urge those States who have not to date been able to adhere to the Convention to re-assess their need to retain cluster munitions," he said.

Looking ahead to Ireland's Chairmanship of the OSCE in 2012, Minister Martin said: "The OSCE plays an important role in conflict prevention and resolution, particularly in relation to the protracted conflicts in the region. As Chair, we will work hard to contribute to the resolution of these conflicts, drawing on our experience in this area in the context of the Northern Ireland peace process."