LITHUANIA SHARES EXPERIENCE IN SETTLEMENT OF PROTRACTED CONFLICTS
On 27 April 2012, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore, hosted a high level conference in Dublin on the Northern Ireland peace process. The Lithuanian delegation attending the event was headed by 2011 CiO Personal Representative on Protracted Conflicts, Permanent Representative to the OSCE, ambassador Giedrius Čekuolis.
The one-day conference aimed to present Ireland's recent experience of building and sustaining peace as a case study of possible relevance to those seeking solutions to conflicts elsewhere in the OSCE.
Ambassador Čekuolis noted in his intervention that "the development and launching of confidence building measures as well as inclusion of local societies and representatives of non-governmental organizations is crucial in the process of peaceful settlement of the protracted conflicts. Based on these principles, Lithuanian OSCE Chairmanship in 2011 has succeeded to renew the official 5+2 negotiations on Transnestrian conflict".
