Although Ministers did not adopt a ministerial declaration in Sofia, they adopted 19 decisions on a range of issues, including fighting terrorism and corruption, tolerance and non-discrimination, and small arms and light weapons.
Chairman-in-Office calls for transformation of the OSCE
At the 13th Annual Session of the Parliamentary Assembly in Edinburgh, Chairman-in-Office Solomon Passy called for the Organization to reassess its political priorities to deal more effectively with the evolving international environment.
The overall theme of the 12th Meeting of the Economic Forum was "New Challenges for Building up Institutional and Human Capacity for Economic Development and Co-operation". The discussions focused on the following main topics:
The Ministerial Council is the central decision-making and governing body of the OSCE. The meeting, held annually, provides the Foreign Ministers of the 57 OSCE participating States an opportunity to review and assess the Organization’s activities and strengthen the dialogue on security issues in the OSCE area.
Protests in Georgia after second round of parliamentary elections lead to President's resignation
After OSCE election observers alleged numerous voting irregularities in parliamentary elections, thousands of Georgians took to the streets to support the opposition, despite official results confirming President Shevardnadze's party as the winner.
OSCE Document on Stockpiles of Conventional Ammunition
The Forum for Security Co-operation adopted the Document on Stockpiles of Conventional Ammunition, which addresses the security risks of excess stockpiles of ammunition, explosives and detonating devices.
The Fifth Central Asian Media Conference, organized by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Freimut Duve, the OSCE Centre in Bishkek and CIMERA, an organization that trains journalists, was held on 17-18 September in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.