18 June 2010
Joao Soares, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly discussed Karabakh conflict with House of Representatives at the US Helsinki Comisssion.
"I am disappointed that the OSCE efforts on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have not yet born fruit" Joao Soares, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly stated during his US visit on June 17th.
Mr. Soares reminded that Special Representative Goran Lennmarker is quite long time engaged with issue.
"I agree with him that we have a golden opportunity to reach an agreement in this old and stubborn conflict, and we need to continue in our efforts", - the OSCE top official added.
Mr. Soares met with House of Representatives at the US Helsinki Comisssion, saying that, as an integral part of the OSCE, the Parliamentary Assembly must be involved on many fronts –contributing to the dialogue, assisting the OSCE in trying to solve conflicts and preventing new ones from erupting".
According to him, the OSCE's "biggest disappointment has been the war between two participating OSCE States, Russia and Georgia, and the closing of the OSCE Mission in Georgia".
"The unrest in Kyrgyzstan has also been most worrisome, and the OSCE needs to lend all its efforts, expertise and knowledge to try to help Kyrgyzstan overcome the present crisis and return to the path towards an improved democracy. I have spent much of my two years trying to encourage increased participation from the members of our Parliamentary Assembly in Central Asia. Kazakhstan is presently setting a high standard by its high participation. But, unfortunately, we have not managed to persuade Uzbekistan to start participating in our Assembly again, as it once did, and I am sad to see the recent decreasing participation by parliamentarians from Turkmenistan – I sincerely hope that this changes in the near future", - he added.
Speaking about peace efforts in the region, Mr. Soares promised that, he will continue to push for greater transparency in the OSCE. "The Helsinki process was about opening up societies and about dialogue. The secrecy with which the Permanent Council conducts its work is not in line with the spirit of Helsinki".
