High-level academic conference on connectivity in the economic and environmental fields opens in Linz

LINZ, Austria, 15 May 2017 – A two-day academic conference on the topic of „connectivity“, a main priority of the OSCE 2017 Austrian Chairmanship in the economic and environmental area, opened today in Linz.  

The conference, entitled “Towards the Vision of a Common Economic Space from Vancouver to Vladivostok: Connectivity, Trade and Co-operation” was opened by Thomas Stelzer, Governor of Upper Austria, Nicolas Brühl, Assistant State Secretary of Switzerland for Europe, Central Asia, the Council of Europe and the OSCE, and Michael Linhart, Deputy Foreign Minister of Austria.

Thomas Stelzer said in his opening speech that working together economically not only fosters prosperity and growth, but also creates trust and thereby enhances security.

“Enhanced co-operation on economic and environmental topics can also have positive spill-over effects into the political sphere and contribute to re-building trust, stability and security in the OSCE area. A common economic space – and every single step in this direction – needs to be based on common rules and a reliable international framework,“ said Linhart in his opening remarks.

In four thematic panels, high-ranking representatives from academia, the business sector and national governments will explore potential avenues to overcome economic dividing lines within the OSCE area as well as possible ways to strengthen environmental and economic co-operation.

José Manuel Barroso, former President of the European Commission, Ulrike Rabmer-Koller, Vice-President of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKÖ), Eka Tkeshelashvili, President of the Georgian Institute for Strategic Studies and former Minister of Justice and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, and Lamberto Zannier, OSCE Secretary General, will participate in the final high-level panel discussion, on 16 May, which will also serve as the kick-off meeting of the first OSCE Ambassadorial Retreat in the Economic and Environmental Dimension.

The conference is supported by the Austrian OSCE Chairmanship, the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW), the Federal Province of Upper Austria, the City of Linz, the Upper Austria Economic Chamber, the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination at Princeton University and the foreign ministries of Germany, Italy, Serbia and Switzerland.