OSCE Ministerial Confirmation of Slovenia's Intl Role, Rupel Says
The staging of the OSCE ministerial meeting will be a testament to Slovenia's role as an active and responsible member of the international community, Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel believes.
According to Rupel, who is the acting OSCE chairman-in-office, the ministerial meeting, to be held in Ljubljana on 5 and 6 December, is an important event for Slovenia, as it will be yet another confirmation of Slovenia's role in the international community.
"We secured political capital; not only in the Balkans, for which we are considered insiders, but also in the Caucasus and Central Asia," Rupel told the press on Wednesday in Ljubljana.
The chairmanship has opened the doors for Slovenia to take a more active approach to strategic issues, while also opening many doors for Slovenian businesses, Rupel said.
Moreover, Rupel claimed that the chairmanship had been a good test run for the EU presidency, which Slovenia is scheduled to hold in the first half of 2008.
Meanwhile, Rupel said that 62 delegations have so far confirmed their attendance at the meeting, including 53 from participating states and nine from partner states.
According to him, the attendance of US State Secretary Condoleezza Rice has not been confirmed yet.
The meeting is also set to attract officials from international organisations and non-government organisations, as well as the foreign press, he said.
According to Rupel, preparations for the biggest political event in the history of independent Slovenia are in the final stages.
The Slovenian chairmanship is in constant contact with the participating states in a bid to find the best solutions, Rupel said. He added that negotiations on certain issues, such as the final declaration and communiques, would also take place during the meeting itself.
Rupel said that the ministerial declaration was being drafted at OSCE headquarters in Vienna. He hopes that the document will be adopted in the end, unlike at the previous two ministerial meetings, when consensus could not be reached.
Rupel said he was aware of the differences in opinion between the United States and Russia on certain OSCE activities, including election monitoring. In a bid to smooth out the differences, Slovenia has had intensive dialogue with both sides.
He said that he was optimistic that some differences would be worked out, although he added that there were still issues on which the two sides would probably not agree. "I hope that these will be at a minimum," he added.
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