OSCE seminar on conflict resolution in the Caucasus

COPENAHGEN, 30 September 1998- Mrs. Helle Degn, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, will chair the OSCE Parliamentary Seminar on Conflict Resolution and Democratic Development in the Caucasus from 5-6 October 1998 in Tbilisi, Georgia. Parliamentary Delegations from 23 OSCE states will participate in the Seminar. They will be welcomed by the President of Georgia, Mr. Eduard Schevardnadze and by the Georgian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Giga Burduli. There will also be opening statements by the attending Speakers of the Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian Parliaments. The Seminar will be held in conjunction with the Expanded Bureau Meeting of the OSCE PA on 3 and 4 October.

The Tbilisi seminar will focus on strengthening civil society and economic development in the Caucasus, the free flow of communications and legislative guarantees for the development of free elections, citizenship issues and guarantees for minority populations. It is the fourth OSCE Parliamentary Seminar designed to enhance OSCE involvement at the interparliamentary level by providing parliaments of the newly independent States with programs and activities which address political issues facing their regions. In the past the OSCE PA co-sponsored a parliamentary seminar in Georgia in 1996 and a joint parliamentary seminar in Vienna in 1997, followed by a joint seminar in Tashkent for parliamentarians from Central Asia and the Caucasus.

For further information contact Mr. Jan Jooren, Press Counsellor of the OSCE PA, tel + 45 33 32 94 00 or tel + 45 21 60 63 80 (mobile).