Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation

This relationship goes back to the Helsinki Process and the Helsinki Final Act, which included a Mediterranean chapter stating that security in Europe is closely linked with security in the Mediterranean as a whole. This inter-linkage has been underscored in subsequent CSCE/OSCE documents, such as the Istanbul Charter for European Security and the Maastricht OSCE Strategy to Address Threats to Security and Stability in the XXI Century. Permanent Council decision 571 decided to explore new avenues of co-operation and interaction and to explore the scope for wider sharing of OSCE norms, principles and commitments.

Over the years, the OSCE has been able to share its experience with the Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation on a number of topics, including:

• Confidence-building
• OSCE as a platform for dialogue and the fostering of norms of behaviour
• The security model for the twenty-first century and new threats to security and stability
• OSCE human dimension commitments
• OSCE economic and environmental dimension commitments
• Media and the new technologies
• Comprehensive approach to security
• Migration and integration policies

Through ongoing dialogue and joint activities with the Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation, the OSCE shares its expertise and provides insight into current developments and is open to reciprocal enrichment provided by them.

Framework for co-operation

A number of meetings, conferences and special events provide a broad framework for regular contact: 

• Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation participate as observers in the OSCE Ministerial Council Meetings, and on the margins meet at high-level with the OSCE Ministerial Troika and the Secretary General. 
   
• They actively participate in OSCE yearly events, such as:
  - the Annual Security Review Conference 
  - the Economic Forum
  - the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting
  - Annual Implementation Assessment Meeting
  - the Annual and Winter Sessions of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly

Special side events for the Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation are frequently organized on these occasions, while the PA holds an annual Parliamentary Forum on the Mediterranean.

• Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation are regularly invited as observers in Permanent Council and Forum for Security Co-operation meetings.
   
• Following the 1994 Budapest Summit decision, the Contact Group with the Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation was established within the framework of the Permanent Council. It is an informal group that meets periodically "to facilitate the interchange of information and the generation of ideas". 
   
• The annual OSCE Mediterranean Seminars provide the opportunity to exchange views and contribute to further developments in the relationship between the OSCE and the Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation. The seminars are also attended by international organizations, parliamentarians, academics and NGOs, leading to a cross-fertilization of ideas and recommendations. 
   
• On an operational level, Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation are invited to send observers to electoral missions of ODIHR and to second, on a voluntary basis, mission members to OSCE field missions (PC.DEC/430).