OSCEs Parlamentariske Forsamling 2012-13
OSCE Alm.del Bilag 42
Offentligt
Address by His Excellency, Leonid Kozhara,Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE,Minister of Foreign Affairs of UkraineAt the Annual Meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly29 June 2013, IstanbulPrime Mininster Erdoğan,Minister Davutoğlu,Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Çi§ek.President Grossruck,Excellencies,Ladies and gentlemen,I am delighted to be here today to address the OSCE ParliamentaryAssembly at its Annual Session in this vibrant and culturally diverse city ofIstanbul. We all enjoy generous hospitality and excellent organization of thisimportant event, thus I wish at the outset to express gratitude to ourTurkishhosts.I would also like thank all of you, and especiallyPresident Grossruckand his predecessorPresident Migliori,for your engagement and constructiveco-operation with the Ukrainian Chairmanship-in-Office of the OSCE.Being myself a parliamentarian with extensive experience, including asa member of many inter-parliamentary delegations, before I took Minister’soffice, I am fully aware of the importance of your work and would like to assureyou of my strong determinationto foster cooperationwith the Assembly. I amconfident that the OSCE gets stronger by enhancing cooperation with you –elected representatives of more than one billion people living across 57participating States. It is ourcommon responsibilityto provide secure futurefor our vast region.Ladies and gentlemen,In February my Special Envoy presented to the Assembly’s WinterMeeting Ukraine’s priorities for its OSCE Chairmanship. Our today’s meetingprovides an opportunity totake stockof what has been achieved in this firsthalf of 2013 andto get a sense of whereincreased efforts would be mostbeneficial.The Ukrainian OSCE Chairmanship has been consistent in pursuing abalanced approachacross three OSCE dimensions, in promotingtrust andconfidenceamong the participating States, in upholding theprinciplesandgoalsof this Organization. Today I would like to confirm that our determinationin this respect remains strong.1
Let me start with the overarching topic of this year’s Annual Session,namely theHelsinki +40 process.In two years we will mark four decades sincethe signing of the Helsinki Final Act. We perceive this anniversary in a verypragmatic way.It is an excellent opportunity tore-energizethe OSCE byclarifying its role and goals, adjusting its ambitions to existing realities andadopting a common agenda on the way towards a Security Community.Therefore the Chairmanship has swiftly launched the process byestablishing an informal Helsinki +40 Working Group. At the core of thisprocess lies a challenging task - tostrengthen trust and confidenceamongparticipating States. We intend to be proactive in pursuing this goal.Following an initialphase of strategic debate,the Helsinki +40 processhas now moved into a new stage ofthematic debates.In conjunction with theincoming Swiss and Serbian Chairs, we are seeking to build apositiveandbalanced agendaup to 2015, one that fosters constructive engagement whiletaking into account the interests and priorities of all participating States.The first of these thematic debates, devoted to exploring the way forwardin “developing a strategic approach to the OSCEeconomic and environmentaldimension”,took place on14 June.The meeting demonstrated a commonground on the need to enhance strategic orientation of the OSCE in respondingto economic and environmental threats to security, and to utilize the potential ofeconomic and environmental activities as confidence building measures.Thenext meeting,planned formid-July,will address the issue ofstrengthening theeffectiveness and efficiency of the OSCE.Let me stress once again it was a verytimelyandapt decisionto addresshere in Istanbul the entire scope of issues in the light of the Helsinki +40process. I reviewed thedraft reportsandresolutions,submitted to theAssembly by its three committees and found they were full ofinterestingproposalsandideasalready at the present stage. I am confident their adoptionwill serve as agood inputto our future activities within the process.Ladies and Gentlemen,In 2013, the Ukrainian Chairmanship set ambitious goals with a numberof priorities across the three dimensions of security.Within thepolitico-military dimensionwe aim at updating andmodernizing the OSCE politico-military instruments and strengthening ourwork in all elements of the conflict cycle.2
We considerconventional arms controlandconfidence buildingmeasuresas an important part of our common efforts to strengthen peace andsecurity in the OSCE area. The Chairmanship is making efforts aimed atfacilitating discussion on a future conventional arms control in Europe. Wehope that this discussion will contribute to the consolidation of the political willrequired for the resolution of current problems in the functioning of the existingconventional arms control regime in Europe.Ukraine is also actively working on updating theOSCE PrinciplesGoverning Non-Proliferation.Protracted conflictsremain a source of tension and mistrust amongparticipating States, and our Chairmanship has been fully engaged in ongoingnegotiations.We were encouraged by the agreement on further confidence measuresreached at the latest “5+2” talks on theTransdniestriansettlement process,which were held in Odessa, and we stand ready to support its implementation. Itis now vital that bilateral meetings of the parties continue in preparation for thenext round of talks.Political willfor mutual rapprochement at both banks ofDniester is key to finding lasting political solutions.In theSouth Caucasus,Ukraine is fully committed to theGenevaInternational Discussions,aimed at solving pressing security and humanitarianissues related to the conflict in Georgia. The Ukrainian Chairmanship also lendsits full support to the efforts of the OSCEMinsk Group Co-Chairsin assistingthe parties to find a peaceful solution to theNagorno-Karabakhconflict.Furthermore, the Chairmanship is encouraging the sound implementationof the Ministerial Council decision on “OSCE’s efforts to addresstransnational threats”.People throughout the world are equally threatened byterrorism, organized international crime, trafficking in illicit drugs, chemicalprecursors and human beings. RecentAnnual Security Review Conference(ASRC)in Vienna provided an excellent opportunity for a robust discussion onwhere the Organization stands in addressing these challenges. Our further plansare to organizeOSCE wide-conferencesoncounter-terrorismand oncombatingillicit drugs.During the ASRC meeting it was underlined that more should be done toaddress threats emanating from adjacent areas, in particularAfghanistan.Theongoing process of transition in the country and ISAF’s withdrawal in 2014 willcontinue to have security implications for the OSCE area. In this regard, thesupport that the OSCE provides for building the capacity of Afghan lawenforcement officers and fostering co-operation with their Central Asiancounterparts is of paramount importance.3
Ladies and gentlemen,Within theEconomic and Environmental Dimension,the core theme ofthe Ukrainian Chairmanship is increasing stability and security by improvingtheenvironmental footprint of energy-related activities.Based on the resultsof the two preparatory meetings in Vienna and Kyiv, the discussions at theEconomic and Environmental Forum in Prague in September could pave theway to achieving concrete deliverables at the Kyiv OSCE Ministerial at the endof the year.Energy dialogue will be enhanced by thejoint initiative of thePresidents of Ukraine and Turkmenistanon holding ahigh-level OSCEEnergy Conference.The Chairmanship Conference under the theme “EnergySecurity and Sustainability – the OSCE Perspective” will be held inAshgabaton17-18 October 2013.The Ukrainian Chairmanship is convinced that theHuman Dimensionisat the core of the concept of comprehensive security.Earlier this month, an international high-level conference under the aegisof the Ukrainian OSCE Chairmanship on Combating Trafficking in HumanBeings took place in Kyiv. The event was aimed at enhancing nationalcapacities to successfully prosecute cases of all forms of trafficking in humanbeings, to provide adequate protection and assistance to trafficked persons andto increase the rate of prevention of this crime. The discussion testified a broadsupport of the Chairmanship’s proposal to elaborate an Addendum to the 2003OSCE Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings.This area of activity is also a great example of excellentco-operationwith the Parliamentary Assembly, as demonstrated by theworkshoponidentifying victims of trafficking that was organized by Ukraine’s Ministry ofInfrastructure in close co-operation with U.S. CongressmanChris Smith,yourSpecial Representative on Human Trafficking Issues.Strengtheningfreedom of the mediaalso stands high on theChairmanship’s agenda. An important contribution in this area was the HumanDimension Seminar held in Warsaw on 13 – 15 May on best practices of legalframework to establish and safeguard a free, independent and pluralistic mediain the OSCE region.We have also focused our attention on such issues as free movement ofpeople, promotion of tolerance and non-discrimination, freedom of associationand assembly, inter-religious dialogue in promoting freedom of religion orbelief, as well as democratic elections and election observation.4
In this regard, let me emphasize that your work onelection monitoring–one of the OSCE hallmarks – is indispensable to the Organization. I hope thatconstructive cooperation and coherence in our activities in this area will furtherstrengthen OSCE’s credibility in the sphere of election observation.Assistance to our newest participating State ofMongoliais also in thefocus of our attention. At the end of May the Chairmanship led a group ofOSCE Representatives to Mongolia to identify potential areas where the OSCEcould be helpful for Mongolia. The authorities of Mongolia demonstrated keeninterest towards engagement with the OSCE. I also received a letter from myMongolian counterpart with a request to examine a possibility of establishing anOSCE presence on the ground.I cannot but mention recent request ofLibyato be granted the status ofthe OSCE Partner for Co-operation. There is a common understanding that thesecurity of the OSCE area is inextricably linked with security in the adjacentregions. We welcome Libya’s willingness to pursue positive engagement andcooperation with the OSCE and willseek consensusamong the participatingStates in this respect.Ladies and Gentlemen,The OSCE must translate a considerablepolitical momentumthat wasgenerated at the 2010 Astana Summit into concrete progress toward realizingthe ambitious vision of a Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian Security Community.It was here, in Istanbul, during the 1999 Summit, that the OSCE leadersdeclared their “firm commitment to a free, democratic and more integratedOSCE area where participating States are at peace with each other, andindividuals and communities live in freedom, prosperity and security”.The reference to individuals and communities is particularly important. Itemphasises the role of the OSCE in making the lives of the citizens of its regionfreer, safer and, on the whole, better.Yet, we all recognize that more needs to be done to connect the OSCE tothe public and civil society. The Parliamentary Assembly as the key institutionlinking us with our citizens can make a crucial contribution by helping us“reconnect”. From the Chairmanship side, we are also taking action. At the endof July, young people from across the OSCE region will gather for theOSCEYouth Summitin Crimea. The event aims to familiarize them with ourOrganization to promote the principles of tolerance and non-discriminationamong the young generation.5
Ladies and Gentlemen,It is high time to revitalize the “cultureof engagement”that inspired thesigning of the Helsinki Final Act. In 1975, divergences among signatories werefar greater than those among participating States today, yet still they managed tounite around a common notion of comprehensive security and a set of sharedprinciples of enhancing relevance.Let’s therefore use the upcoming anniversary of Helsinki as a chance tofindjoint solutionsto the common challenges we face, and to providestrategicdirectionto the OSCE while continuing to seekfull implementationof theextensive OSCEacquisdeveloped over decades. Our Organization, our Statesand, ultimately, our citizens, cannot afford to miss this opportunity. I remainconfident that Ukraine’s Chairmanship can continue to count on theParliamentary Assembly’s support for advancing this important initiative.Thank you and I wish you fruitful discussions.
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