San Marino Foreign Minister addresses OSCE, says international co-operation crucial for small states

VIENNA, 24 November 2011 – The Minister of Foreign and Political Affairs of the Republic of San Marino, Antonella Mularoni, in her address to the OSCE Permanent Council today, stressed the unique role of the Organization in promoting confidence among all 56 participating States.

“We have always declared ourselves a neutral State, we have neither an army nor big armaments and we rely on a limited number of people in the field of security and order,” Mularoni said. “Notwithstanding, or maybe because of this, we believe that the OSCE plays a unique role in fostering the exchange of information and promoting confidence among participating States.”

“For our country, international co-operation assumes a crucial importance,” Mularoni said, stressing that San Marino has encouraged the co-operation among small states of Europe, including through joint financing of OSCE projects.

She added that the engagement of the OSCE high-level representatives with the country underlines “the importance attached by the Organization to small States” and “the role that all States, regardless of their size, can and must play at an international level to promote democratic and peace processes”.

Mularoni emphasized the importance of the efforts on protracted conflict resolution and improving lives of conflict-affected populations, praised the work done by the Conflict Prevention Centre, in particular in its police-related activities, and by the OSCE field missions.

She stressed the need for effective international co-operation to end transnational threats, said that the OSCE could contribute to the security in the neighbouring regions, including the Mediterranean, and voiced her support for the work of OSCE and its institutions in the economic and environmental, as well as human dimension, including the promotion of media pluralism, co-operation with the civil society, and observing elections.

San Marino was among the states signatory to the Helsinki Final Act in 1975, a founding document of the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) which later became the OSCE.

The OSCE Permanent Council is one of the main regular decision-making bodies of the Organization. It convenes weekly in Vienna to discuss developments in the OSCE area and to make appropriate decisions.