OSCE Chairman meets Secretary of State Rice and Helsinki Commission, says U.S. role vital

WASHINGTON, 29 October 2007 - The U.S. role in and contribution to the OSCE is as vital to the Organization as ever, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, said today after talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The Chairman-in-Office also spoke at the U.S. Helsinki Commission - formally known as the Commission on Security and Co-operation in Europe - and answered questions there from its members, telling them the OSCE presented a mirror to the tensions that exist today in wider Europe.

"Whether considering the future role of the OSCE in Kosovo and ways to aid Afghanistan, supporting our work on economic and human aspects of security or helping to seek workable solutions to the protracted conflicts over South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Transdniestria, the United States plays a crucial role more important than ever," the Minister said after talks with the Secretary of State.

"I am convinced the United States will play, as usual, a constructive, high-level part at next month's Ministerial Council in Madrid," said the Chairman-in-Office, noting key decisions needed to be taken at the annual OSCE foreign ministers' meeting, including on Kazakhstan's bid to chair the OSCE.

Minister Moratinos said he and Secretary of State Rice agreed it was important Russia sent an invitation as soon as possible for the OSCE to observe, to its usual high standards, December's parliamentary elections. Progress on arms control, notably on differences over the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, was also needed, he said.

At the U.S. Helsinki Commission, the Minister said the Spanish Chairmanship would seek to forge the consensus needed on decisions, including environmental security, strengthening pluralistic societies and deepening co-operation in counter-terrorism and the fight against trafficking in human beings. The OSCE to-do list was expanding, not shrinking, he said.

"It is clear that the ambitious goals that the participating States have set collectively for the OSCE must be matched by adequate resources," the Chairman-in-Office told the Helsinki Commission, an independent U.S. government agency responsible for monitoring and encouraging compliance with the Helsinki Final Act and other OSCE commitments. "I must be frank here: Insisting on reducing resources, while increasing mandates, does not do service to the values that rightly underpin the OSCE."