26 Jan. 2005

OSCE Chairman addresses NATO Council Background NATO-OSCE Opinions 26/01/2005 - OSCE Address by OSCE Chairman-in-Office to the North Atlantic Council (PDF/38Kb) Multimedia High resolution photos External links Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) In an address to the North Atlantic Council on 26 January, OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, called for closer co-operation between the OSCE and NATO in key areas. The new Chairman-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) visited NATO Headquarters to address the North Atlantic Council, the Alliance's senior decision-making body, and to meet with the NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. In his address he laid out a “triple R” agenda for Slovenia's Chairmanship of the OSCE in 2005: revitalisation, reform, and rebalancing of the organization. He also outlined the activities and meetings that the OSCE will be holding in the coming months. Closer cooperation Minister Rupel stressed his desire to build further on the existing close cooperation between the two organisations, particularly in areas such as border security, the disposal of small arms and ammunition, and science and environmental activities in the Caucasus and Central Asia, where NATO and OSCE have cooperated closely in the past. In response to questions from NATO Ambassadors, he also briefed on his recent visit to Kosovo and his hopes for a dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, as well as more cooperation between Kosovo Serbs and Kosovo Albanians in meeting the standards set by the international community. NATO Ambassadors congratulated the Chairman for the positive role that OSCE monitors played in the recent Presidential election in the Ukraine.