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  Protracted conflicts are of key importance to the OSCE, and efforts to resolve them are crucial to unity among the Organization’s 56 participating States, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė told the OSCE Permanent Council this Wednesday.

Grybauskaitė said there were opportunities to bring progress in the Transdniestrian conflict settlement process. She also said she would use a visit next month to the South Caucasus to encourage confidence-building measures, and called on all sides to invest in such measures.

“All sides need to go further in trust and confidence-building measures in the (South) Caucasus,” she said. “Small steps can have a big impact as we seek resolution to outstanding issues.”

She emphasized the importance of dialogue and co-operation in dealing with challenges such as protracted conflicts. “It is important to be all the time together and find joint solutions,” she said. “We will address risks and challenges we face only if we do it together.”

The Permanent Council is one of the OSCE’s main regular decision-making bodies. It convenes weekly in Vienna to discuss developments in the OSCE area and to make appropriate decisions.

Lithuania has assumed OSCE’s Chairman-in-Office duties starting from January 2011. Achieving progress in the resolution of protracted conflicts is one of Lithuania’s key priorities.

Source: osce.org, Embassy of Lithuania