COPENHAGEN, 3 April 2012 – The OSCE Chair-in-Office, Irish Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore, has appointed François-Xavier De Donnea of Belgium and Matteo Mecacci of Italy to serve as special co-ordinators to lead the OSCE election observation missions to the 6 May elections in Armenia and Serbia, respectively. In accordance with the 1997 Co-operation Agreement, De Donnea and Mecacci will deliver the post-election statements on behalf of the

COPENHAGEN, 26 March 2012 – With a two-day summit on nuclear security beginning in Seoul, South Korea, today, Karl-Georg Wellmann, chair of the OSCE PA's General Committee on Political Affairs and Security, said that he hopes for strong pledges from the participants on improving the protection of nuclear facilities and radioactive materials, as well as for reducing nuclear stockpiles and deployed strategic nuclear weapons. "I welcome the

PRISHTINË/PRIŠTINA, 22 March 2012 - A representation of the Italian delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly discussed human rights and minority rights during a visit today to Kosovo, where the OSCE's largest field mission is based. Assembly Vice-President Riccardo Migliori; Matteo Mecacci, chair of the Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions; and Senator Mauro Del Vecchio and Senator Giuseppe Caforio met with

COPENHAGEN, 16 March 2012 – OSCE PA President Petros Efthymiou today applauded the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova for electing a national president after a more than two and a half year political stalemate in Chisinau. The parliament today elected Mr. Nicolae Timofti president of Moldova. Timofti, an experienced lawyer, was proposed by the Alliance for European Integration, supported by independent parliamentarians, and received 62

COPENHAGEN, 16 March 2012 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Petros Efthymiou called today for authorities in Minsk to halt its use of the death penalty after reports that President Alexander Lukashenko has decided to go forward with the use of the death penalty in the cases of two men convicted for the April 2011 Minsk metro bombing. "I am troubled by President Lukashenko's decision go forward with the use of the death penalty in the

Gazeta.kz 14 March 2012 Kazakh delegation headed by Chairman of the Senate Committee for Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security Ikram Adyrbekov met with OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Emeritus Joao Soares and Portuguese MPs in Lisbon on Monday. The issues of intensification of Kazakh-Portuguese interparliamentary cooperation and economic ties were discussed. The Portuguese parliamentarians were proposed to form a parliamentary friendship