OSCE has critical role to play in new security environment - NATO Secretary General
(OSCE/Alex Nitzsche)NATO Secretary General, Lord George Robertson, addressing the 55 OSCE delegations at the Permanent Council meeting on 5 November 2003. (OSCE/Alex Nitzsche) Photo details
VIENNA, 6 November 2003 - NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson described the OSCE on Thursday as the standard bearer for human rights and fundamental freedoms and said the Organization had a critical role to play in the new security environment.
Addressing the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, he said the two organizations shared the common objective of helping to consolidate Europe as "a common security space from which wars will no longer start." They had built up a hugely successful partnership in the Balkans over the past decade but now needed to be more ambitious.
"GeographicallyI see scope for greater co-operation with regard to the Caucasus and Central Asia - strategically important regions where the OSCE has on-the-ground experience," Lord Robertson told ambassadors from the 55 OSCE participating States.
"We should also look for synergies in our work in the Mediterranean regionWe should also explore how we can work together, for instance in Afghanistan. If we can foster greater security and stability there, we ourselves will also be more safe and secure."
Lord Robertson said opportunities for making progress had never been greater as the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States had had a profound impact on the development of both NATO and the OSCE.
"The threat of terrorism constitutes a priority area for our institutions. Terrorism finds a fertile breeding ground where there is bad government, where there are dysfunctional institutions, and where there is no respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. The OSCE is the standard bearer of these norms, and it has a critical role to play in the new security environment, alongside NATO and others."
NATO welcomed both the OSCE's Platform for Co-operative Security, adopted in 1999, and its plan to adopt a new strategy for addressing threats to security and stability in the 21st century at next month's annual meeting of OSCE foreign ministers in Maastricht.
Lord Robertson said NATO's many defence reform activities complemented the OSCE's conflict prevention and post-conflict rehabilitation work: "This is another area where I believe we should continue to share information. We should also optimise our co-operation in dealing with such concrete issues as border security, organized crime, and small arms and light weapons."
The appointment of the current OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Netherlands Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, as the next NATO Secretary General would help to forge a truly effective partnership between the two major Euro-Atlantic security bodies. "One thing is clear: NATO-OSCE co-operation is a strategic requirement - today more than ever before," Lord Robertson said.
Addressing the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, he said the two organizations shared the common objective of helping to consolidate Europe as "a common security space from which wars will no longer start." They had built up a hugely successful partnership in the Balkans over the past decade but now needed to be more ambitious.
"GeographicallyI see scope for greater co-operation with regard to the Caucasus and Central Asia - strategically important regions where the OSCE has on-the-ground experience," Lord Robertson told ambassadors from the 55 OSCE participating States.
"We should also look for synergies in our work in the Mediterranean regionWe should also explore how we can work together, for instance in Afghanistan. If we can foster greater security and stability there, we ourselves will also be more safe and secure."
Lord Robertson said opportunities for making progress had never been greater as the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States had had a profound impact on the development of both NATO and the OSCE.
"The threat of terrorism constitutes a priority area for our institutions. Terrorism finds a fertile breeding ground where there is bad government, where there are dysfunctional institutions, and where there is no respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. The OSCE is the standard bearer of these norms, and it has a critical role to play in the new security environment, alongside NATO and others."
NATO welcomed both the OSCE's Platform for Co-operative Security, adopted in 1999, and its plan to adopt a new strategy for addressing threats to security and stability in the 21st century at next month's annual meeting of OSCE foreign ministers in Maastricht.
Lord Robertson said NATO's many defence reform activities complemented the OSCE's conflict prevention and post-conflict rehabilitation work: "This is another area where I believe we should continue to share information. We should also optimise our co-operation in dealing with such concrete issues as border security, organized crime, and small arms and light weapons."
The appointment of the current OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Netherlands Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, as the next NATO Secretary General would help to forge a truly effective partnership between the two major Euro-Atlantic security bodies. "One thing is clear: NATO-OSCE co-operation is a strategic requirement - today more than ever before," Lord Robertson said.