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Dear NGO representatives
From OSCE participating States
And from our Mediterranean Partner States,

I am glad you are here at this Vilnius Ministerial Conference!

It is a pleasure to see you and have this opportunity to hear from you.

Over the past year I have always made time both here and in my travels through the OSCE area to meet with NGO representatives. I also raised issues dear to civil society with the leaders and ministers of the OSCE countries. Our efforts were not wasted and some positive results could be achieved. In a number of countries], in well-known and lesser known cases, our joint efforts, with you on the front lines, with us in the halls of government, have promoted the rights of organizers, bloggers, journalists and champions of social and human rights.

I am pleased to see that Vilnius is becoming a hub for those civil society members who have not been able to function freely and openly in the neighboring region. I welcome the initiative involving Freedom House to establish a virtual center, Helsinki Two, to link all OSCE NGOs via the web.

This initiative will renew in the technological age what was started 35 years ago by courageous human rights activists like Andrei Sakharov, his wife Jelena Boner, and Sergei Kovalev and the founders of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group, Tomas Venclova, Father Garuckas, Ona Lukauskaite-Poskiene, Viktoras Petkus and Eten Finkelshtein. Two of the veterans from that time, Viktoras Petkus from my country and Liudmila Alekseeva from Russia will honor this Ministerial with their presence.

Dear NGO friends and colleagues,

Your feedback is vital for me and all of us in the OSCE leadership. That is true for me, as CiO, as it is for ODIHR Director Lenarcic, for the High Commissioner on National Minorities and for the Representative for the Freedom of the Media. And it is certainly true for every OSCE officer working in our Field Operations, from Heads of Mission throughout the staff. And most of all, it is critical that the representative Ministers have this opportunity to hear from you at this annual Ministerial meeting.

But not only have you had the opportunity to meet and share your views and experiences among yourselves. You have also had the unique opportunity to meet new colleagues and future NGO partners from the OSCE Mediterranean partner states. I hope you have taken advantage of this opportunity to share experiences and build ties to your mutual benefit.

Friends and partners from the NGO community,

The decisions we Ministers will discuss here in Vilnius, on freedom of the internet and protection of journalists, on combatting transnational threats, improving security in cyberspace and in the energy realm are just a few of the pressing issues for the OSCE, which challenge our commitments and values.

But as important as those decisions are, they are only formal acts until they are put into life by the people of our participating States. Then it is you, the NGO’s, representing directly the citizens of the OSCE, who put into effect the rule of law and human rights practices we have defined. You are the ones who monitor war crimes, and serve as watchdogs over the electoral process, who insist on openness and transparency in government and shine the spotlight on corruption and fight intolerance and discrimination.

This Lithuanian Chairmanship has sponsored three major High Level Meetings in Prague, Rome and Vienna to encourage active practices to combat hatred against Jews, Christians and Muslims. This broad message is supported by many of our field presences which encourage anti-hatred and anti-discrimination education at the grass roots level.

You are the ones who let us know whether the decisions and commitments we have made in the past and which we will make in the next days are becoming a reality in the lives of our citizens, or not.

You put the OSCE’s ideas and principles into life. And that is what makes our societies free and vital.

One could say that the NGO’s of the OSCE are the life blood that pulses through the veins and arteries of our OSCE body. Without them we are a marble monument, beautiful perhaps, but soulless. Without you, there is no life, no energy, no forward motion.

For all that you do, I thank you, deeply.

But now, I want you to know that I have asked that your views and findings be heard at this ministerial, that the information you have provided us reaches the decision makers.

Thank you for your contribution to this Ministerial. Thank you for the work you are doing in your individual countries. Keep up the valuable tasks you perform on behalf of all of us.