OSCE seminar highlights good practices in border demarcation

VILNIUS, 31 May 2011 – Border officials, diplomats, scientists, cartographers, engineers and other experts today began discussing good practices in delimitation and demarcation of borders at an OSCE Chairmanship seminar in Vilnius.

The two-day event, which focuses on technical aspects of delimitation and demarcation, aims to foster a constructive and depoliticized discussion and to provide for information exchange.

"The Lithuanian OSCE Chairmanship has placed border security and management very high on the agenda of the Organization," said Ambassador Rytis Paulauskas, Director of the OSCE Chairmanship Department in Lithuania's Foreign Ministry. "Border delimitation and demarcation are issues with which we in Lithuania are very familiar, having recently and successfully experienced the process of defining our borders in close co-operation with our immediate neighbours. The lessons we have identified in this area could serve as a practical example for consideration."

The seminar, supported by the OSCE Secretariat's Conflict Prevention Centre, explores the aims, approaches and objectives of international land boundary delimitation and demarcation processes. The agenda includes presentations on national experiences and on the technical assistance available to OSCE participating States in this field.

OSCE participating States in December 2005 adopted an OSCE Border Security and Management Concept that commits them to co-operation based on the principles of international law, mutual confidence, equal partnership, transparency and predictability, and to pursue a comprehensive approach to facilitate friendly relations between States.

Since then, the Organization has supported border-related work in several participating States through policy development, capacity-building and networking initiatives.

"This seminar is part of the OSCE's work to encourage dialogue and co-operation among participating States to promote open and secure borders in a free, democratic and more integrated OSCE area," said Gottfried Hanne, Deputy Director of the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre. "Exposure to best practices and lessons learned regarding the definition of international land boundaries, and facilitating the livelihoods of border communities once borders are defined, will promote wider regional stability."