EU Supports Ukraine's Pragmatic Ways in OSCE Chairmanship

KYIV, Ukraine, October 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

The EU appreciates Ukraine's balanced and pragmatic ways in its OSCE chairmanship, stated the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius. He also noted that the EU supported the preparations of Ukraine for the next OSCE Ministerial Council to be held on December 5-6, 2013, in Kyiv.

Ukraine has taken up the year-long OSCE chairmanship on January 1, 2013. The country has since organized the tolerance and non-discrimination conference in Albania's Tirana (May 2013), anti-human trafficking conference (June 2013), OSCE Youth Summit in southern Ukraine (July 2013), energy conference in Turkmenistan (October 2013), and international anti-terrorism conference in Kyiv (October 2013). Ukraine also co-chaired the 23rd round of Geneva Discussions - talks aimed at peaceful resolution of Georgian conflicts.

The Tirana non-discrimination conference reminded the OSCE states of their commitment to combat racism, xenophobia, aggressive nationalism, anti-Semitism, religion-based discrimination, and intolerance toward the Roma. The June anti-human trafficking event urged action against human trafficking and addressed the need to update the OSCE Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings.

Issues of energy sector development, stable energy transit, sustainable energy solutions, and energy efficiency became the focus of the Turkmeni event in October. The Kyiv anti-terrorism conference was dedicated to international co-operation in the fight against terrorism. It attracted experts from 30 countries.

One of the key issues of Ukraine's OSCE chairmanship agenda has been the Transdniestria conflict. On October 3, another round of 5+2 talks in the Transdniestrian settlement process took place in Brussels. The parties focused on the freedom of movement of people living on the Dniester river banks. The next - fifth - round of the talks (to be held in Kyiv) is scheduled for November 25-26, 2013.

During the time of its chairmanship in OSCE, Ukraine aimed to address such issues as early conflict prevention, solving longtime conflicts, post-conflict restoration, regional safety and stability. Additionally, the country's agenda included energy safety issues, strengthening of democratic institutions and reviving of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.

OSCE is the world's largest regional security organization. It includes 57 member states in Europe, Central Asia and North America. Conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict restorative works are the main political goals of the organization.