PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung), Austria
Dec 3 2008

Trans-Atlantic security group debates conflicts

2008-12-03 22:31:55 –

HELSINKI, Finland (AP) – Some 50 foreign ministers from a leading
trans-Atlantic security group are meeting to discuss ways of avoiding
conflicts, like the one in Georgia, Finnish officials said Wednesday.
Apart from the Caucasus, new security proposals by Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev will be discussed by the foreign ministers at the
two-day meeting that
opens Thursday, said Alexander Stubb, chairman of the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Stubb, who is the Finnish foreign minister and currently holds the
rotating chair of the OSCE, gave few details, but said the proposals
contain «lots of elements that are already in the OSCE, or in NATO or
the European Union,» and would be presented by Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov.
«They include the mention of regional integrity, refraining from the
use of violence, democracy and human rights,» Stubb said. «People will
be listening very carefully to Lavrov on Thursday.
Stubb said the United States was also «cautiously open» to the Russian
proposals.
«In other words, … we should listen with open ears and interest to
what sort of security proposals the Russian are suggesting,» Stubb
said. He met U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday
before flying to Helsinki.
Rice canceled her scheduled Thursday attendance at the OSCE meeting to
travel to India.

In Helsinki, the ministers will also discuss Nagorno-Karabakh, the
disputed enclave in Azerbaijani territory but occupied by Armenia,
Stubb said.
Stubb said he was optimistic the talks would improve ties between the
56 member states in a region that stretches from Vancouver in Canada
to Vladivostok, Russia.
«It’s already a success that … for the first in the history of the
OSCE we have 50 foreign ministers sitting and discussing regional
issues,» Stubb said.