Special Representative
To:
PA President
and
PA Secretary General
Permanent Council Brief Week 39, 2011
As I mentioned in last week’s report, there were hardly any meetings in Vienna this
week, due to the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw. The only
exception was a special Forum for Security (FSC) meeting with a focus on Small
Arms and Light Weapons (SALW), the main result of which was a decision to hold an
OSCE meeting to review the OSCE Plan of Action on SALW on May 22 and 23, 2012
in Vienna. In the same meeting, the FSC adopted a decision on updating the title and
the introduction of the Vienna Document 1999 (paragraphs 1 to 8), considered to be
a first step towards a more substantive revision of the Vienna Document. Several
delegations expressed their hope that there will be additional related decisions at the
Vilnius Ministerial Council.
Finally, the FSC, also in the same meeting, adopted a decision to hold a meeting of
the Heads of Verification Centers on December 14, 2011. The swift decision-making
process demonstrated that the military dimension of the OSCE is one which – while
as an OSCE activity less in the lime-light now than in the early CSCE years – is one
where a cooperative spirit can still be detected.
Meetings with the ambassadors of Azerbaijan, Estonia and Tunisia offered one more
opportunity to discuss issues of mutual interest. The Tunisian ambassador empha-
sized how much his country welcomes the fact that the PA is sending such a sub-
stantive observation mission, in the light of its solid methodology and its reputation of
being neither partisan nor patronizing in election observation. The office also was vis-
ited by Austrian Member of Parliament Christine Muttonen.
Finally, Roberto Montella from the office is currently accompanying Vice President
Migliori on his second pre-election assessment visit to Tunisia.
Andreas Nothelle
Ambassador
September 30, 2011
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