News

On 23 September at the 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Petras Vaitiekūnas took part in a meeting of foreign ministers of the so-called Quintet of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The OSCE Quintet is composed of five countries that hold the rotating OSCE Chairmanship. Currently these countries are: Spain, Greece, Finland, Kazakhstan and Lithuania. Foreign Ministers of the five OSCE countries discussed possibilities of the settlement of conflict in Georgia and security challenges.

‘Events in Georgia demonstrated that the OSCE can play an important role in crisis situations. We have to admit that events in Georgia really make us rethink the aspects of activities of this organisation. After all, Russia has crossed all the “red lines” in Georgia and breached the essential principles that form the backbone of the organisation,’ stated P.Vaitiekūnas during the meeting.

The Ministers discussed the role of the OSCE during the upcoming diplomatic conference on the settlement of the Russia-Georgia conflict on 15 October in Geneva.

The Ministers exchanged their opinions on the ways for further cooperation of the OSCE Quintet and preparation for the upcoming main annual event, i.e., the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council on 4-5 December this year in Helsinki. The Ministers agreed that the Quintet countries must have more intensive consultations. P.Vaitiekūnas also indicated that the endorsement of a decision on cyber security should be one of the Helsinki meeting priorities.

The idea and goal of the new OSCE format (suggested by Finland in January 2008)– the Quintet – is to encourage long term OSCE planning and setting of common goals for the period, during which a few countries share the Chairmanship. The first Quintet meeting took place on 1-2 June this year in Helsinki.

During the conversation with Kazakhstan’s head of diplomacy Marat Tazhin, Minister P.Vaitiekūnas discussed the preparation of both countries for the OSCE Chairmanship: Kazakhstan will hold the OSCE Chairmanship in 2010 and Lithuania in 2011.

While speaking about the role of the countries holding the OSCE Chairmanship, Minister P.Vaitiekūnas indicated that it was very important to contribute to solving of frozen conflicts, strengthening of the effectiveness of activities of the organisation and benefiting from the experience of regional cooperation.  P.Vaitiekūnas also indicated that it was important for Lithuania to cooperate with Kazakhstan in planning priority topics on the agenda of the Chairmanship and in determining activity directions.

The Ministers agreed on the joint training program for Lithuanian and Kazakh diplomats, responsible for the OSCE Chairmanship of the countries.

OSCE is the largest regional security organisation whose 56 participating states are from Europe, North America and Asia. The main objectives of the organisation are: undivided security, conflict prevention and post-conflict management.