OSCE Magazine highlights 2008 Chairmanship, OSCE in Kosovo

VIENNA, 20 February 2008 - The chances and challenges of the 2008 Finnish OSCE Chairmanship are the focus of the latest issue of the OSCE Magazine.

"The year 2008 is bound to put the OSCE to the test: Our agenda is packed with a host of challenges that hold enormous implications for the goal of comprehensive security across the OSCE area," said Ambassador Antti Turunen, Chairman of the Permanent Council, in the preface to the March-April issue.

The Chairman-in-Office, Finnish Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva, has named conflict prevention and crisis management as top priorities for the year, and the Magazine highlights the Minister's early efforts in tackling protracted conflicts in the OSCE area.

The Magazine also looks back on the achievements of the Madrid Ministerial Council last November, and provides a fresh perspective on the workings of the OSCE from the viewpoint of a foreign correspondent.

The OSCE played a pivotal role in ensuring the success of the November 2008 elections in Kosovo, and a story gives an on-the-ground account of the Organization's behind-the-scenes work.

Other features spotlight two ambitious projects - successfully transforming stocks of melange, a highly toxic rocket fuel component into environmentally-friendly fertilizer in Armenia, and supporting demilitarization in Montenegro. Readers also get a tour of the OSCE Secretariat's new headquarters in a restored centuries-old palais in Vienna's historic centre. King Juan Carlos I of Spain inaugurated the building in a ceremony late last year.

The OSCE Magazine in English, Russian, French and Spanish can be accessed on: OSCE Magazine March-April 2008

Readers can subscribe to hard copies in English and Russian on the OSCE website. Previous issues can be ordered by writing to osce-magazine-at@osce.org