OSCE PRESIDENCY TO CONTINUE ON TRACK, FINNISH FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS
Earthtimes
April 10 2008
UK
Vienna – Finland’s new foreign minister said Thursday finding solutions
to the frozen conflicts in the region of the former Soviet Union
remained core to his country’s chairmanship of the Organization for
Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE). "I came here to convey
a message of continuity," Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said,
stressing the importance Finland placed on its OSCE chairmanship by
making the Vienna-based organization destination of his first trip
since taking office on April 4.
"My aim is to re-energize efforts towards peaceful settlement of
these conflicts. I sincerely hope that the efforts … are met with
constructive engagement by all parties," Stubb added.
He expressed concern over recent events in Nagorno-Karabakh in
Azerbaijan and the Georgian breakaway region South Ossetia and appealed
to all parties to refrain from violence.
"The OSCE needs to focus on the issues where it can make a real
difference," Stubb told delegates from the OSCE’s 57 member states,
urging them to cooperate on the question of Kosovo, despite "diverging
views" by member states, which include Russia, Serbia, as well as
the United States and all members of the European Union.
Finland holds the rotating one-year chairmanship of the OSCE, the
world’s largest regional security body, in 2008.
Stubb’s predecessor Ilkka Kanerva was forced to resign over a scandal
following him sending suggestive text messages to a stripper.
The minister was expected to discuss bilateral issues in a meeting
with his Austrian counterpart Ursula Plassnik later on Thursday.