OSCE Chair Says to Re-Energize Efforts over ‘Frozen Conflict’

OSCE needs to focus on the issues where it can make a real difference, including solving the region’s frozen conflicts, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, newly appointed Finnish Foreign Minister, Alexander Stubb, told the Organization’s Permanent Council today.

“We must seriously look for solutions to the so-called frozen conflicts. My aim is to re-energize efforts towards peaceful settlement of these conflicts,” He said. “I sincerely hope that the efforts of the Finnish Chairmanship are met with constructive engagement by all parties.”

He, however, also said: “I continue to support the existing negotiation mechanisms, including the OSCE Minsk Group and its Co-Chairs [over Nagorno-Karabakh].”

Tbilisi wants to scrap the current negotiating mechanism for South Ossetia, the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC) and replace it with a 2+2+2 formula, which would see Russia’s North Ossetia being replaced by the Tbilisi-backed South Ossetian provisional administration and the inclusion of the OSCE and the EU. The move is opposed by Moscow is Tskhinvali.

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