OSCE MINISTERIAL COUNCIL SET TO START IN MADRID
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[01:40 pm] 29 November, 2007
Foreign ministers and high-level representatives from the 56 OSCE
countries gather in Madrid tomorrow for the start of the annual
Ministerial Council, with bids for the OSCE Chairmanship, sideline
negotiations on a key European arms control treaty and the role of
the OSCE in Kosovo topping this year’s agenda.
"The Ministerial Council comes once a year, it is the most important
moment in the Chairmanship," said Jose Maria Pons, the Spanish Foreign
Ministry’s Director General of Foreign Policy for Europe and North
America, at a press briefing held today ahead of the meeting.
Spain, which holds the OSCE Chairmanship for 2007, is hosting the
two-day gathering. The Ministerial Council will open Thursday with
an address by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero
and the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel
Angel Moratinos.
Ambassador Pons said that the heads of delegations would hold a
working lunch on Thursday covering the main issues on the agenda,
including the OSCE’s Mission in Kosovo, engagement with Afghanistan
and the legal character of the Organization.
He emphasized the importance of extending the mandate of the Mission
in Kosovo, which expires at the end of the year. The Mission is the
Organization’s largest field operation with 1,000 staff.
Decisions expected to be taken in Madrid address, among other matters,
public-private partnerships to counter terrorism; protecting energy
infrastructure from terrorist attack; environment and security; and
promoting mutual respect and understanding as well as strengthening
engagement with human rights defenders.
These reflect the Spanish Chairmanship’s priorities focusing on the
fight against terrorism, protecting the environment, encouraging
participation in pluralistic societies and strengthening the OSCE’s
role as a forum for dialogue and co-operation.
The participating States will decide who will hold the OSCE
Chairmanship after Finland’s term in 2008. A decision on Kazakhstan’s
bid to chair the Organization was postponed at the 2006 Ministerial
Council in Brussels and will be taken this year.
The activities of the Office for Democratic Institutions and
Human Rights, the OSCE’s election monitoring body, will also be
addressed. Discussions on the future of the Treaty on Conventional
Forces in Europe (CFE) are taking place on the sidelines of the
Ministerial Council.
The annual Ministerial Council provides the 56 OSCE participating
States the opportunity to review and assess the Organization’s
activities during the past year, as well as to approve a series of
decisions for action and possible declarations on a range of subjects.