News

Lithuania’s chairmanship of the Organization’s for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Contact Group with the Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation managed to reach an agreement on the 2010 OSCE Mediterranean Conference. The conference will be held in Valletta, Malta’s capital city, on 14-15 October.

The OSCE Permanent Council approved this decision by consent on 29 April.

It was the first decision made and approved during Lithuania’s chairmanship of the Organization’s for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Contact Group with the Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation.

Intensive discussions on the venue of the conference brought together all the 56 OSCE participating states and partner states. After lengthy negotiations, Lithuania managed to reach an agreement on the decision.

The OSCE Mediterranean Conference - the most important event of the year - is convened to promote cooperation in this region. This year’s conference will focus on security challenges in the OSCE region. During the conference, OSCE participating states and partner states together with Mediterranean countries will explore ways of jointly solving security issues.

As the upcoming OSCE chairmanship, Lithuania took over the chairmanship of the Organization’s for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Contact Group with the Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation in the beginning of 2010. The Mediterranean Contact Group focuses on migration, tolerance and non-discrimination issues, border control and environmental issues.

Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia together form the OSCE’s Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation. The OSCE cooperation with the countries increases security in the region and expands the space of democracy, fundamental human rights and freedoms.

In 2010 Lithuania is chairing the Organization’s for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Contact Group with the Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation and in the next year the country will hold the chairmanship of entire OSCE.

It is expected that the chairmanship of the organization will contribute to strengthening Lithuania’s international and regional role, preparing for the European Union Presidency in 2013 and a potential membership in the United Nations Security Council in 2014-2015.

During the chairmanship, Lithuania intends to focus on comprehensive security dialogue in Europe (the so-called Corfu Process), on strengthening security within the OSCE area, human rights protection and media freedom.