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Statement of the H.E.Mr. Audronis Ažubalis,

 Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania

At the meeting with the

Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation

Astana, 2010 12 01

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The interconnectedness between security in Europe and security in the Mediterranean region remains as evident today as it was in Helsinki 35 years ago. It is clear that the Mediterranean dimension is an essential part of the construction of a Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security community.

Lithuania as a Chair of the Mediterranean Contact Group values cooperation with the Mediterranean partners. We are ready to discuss ways to deepen and expand it. Lithuania has focused its activities on ensuring continuity to the work of the Group. I express my appreciation to Kazakhstan for the continued support for this format during their Chairmanship.

Eleven years after the OSCE Summit in Istanbul, we are given the opportunity to assess the progress made so far and to bring to a new stage our relations with the Partners for Co-operation.

At the outset, the Mediterranean Contact Group constituted the main forum for dialogue between the Mediterranean Partners and the OSCE participating States. Today, the Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation take part in the OSCE dialogue nearly on a daily basis. The Partners regularly participate in the PC and FSC meetings as well as, more recently, in the Corfu Process. Participation is not limited to passive presence; partners are contributing in the substantive manner and expanding the notion of the partnership by doing so. Cooperation in the areas of migration management, border security, challenges for environment, tolerance and non-discrimination, as well as on confidence and security building measures are the main spheres of mutual interest. I believe that both our dialogue and our co-operation would yield more benefits by higher level involvement of the capitals.

Dear colleagues,

This format of cooperation could also be more consistently and pro-actively used by Mediterranean Partners. Partners could share with the OSCE participating States their experience and best practices as well as information on relevant security related developments in their region. It would facilitate the early identification of common concerns and of ways to jointly address them.

The partnership will become even more solid should the contribution of civil society, including NGOs and academia be enhanced. Side events on the margins of main annual OSCE meetings could provide the needed impetus.

One of the issues regularly raised during the Mediterranean meetings is the extension of the partnership. I believe that the partnership is a living body and could be adapted to the realities and needs of the countries interested in OSCE experience and values. The OSCE is open for requests to join cooperation. Having in mind that consensus on all issues which are on the OSCE agenda must be reached and that sometimes it might be a long process, we could possibly discuss “transitional” partnership? Possibility to inviting countries, interested in the expansion of cooperation, to the OSCE events on ad hoc basis, might be also an option. We should continue to discuss this issue without preconditions.

Finally, may I express our appreciation to Kazakhstan for their work done during the previous year and continued support for this format during their Chairmanship and hand over the Chairmanship of this Group to Ireland.