OSCE Panel of Eminent Persons hands over report on future of Organization

LJUBLJANA, 27 June 2005 - The OSCE Panel of Eminent Persons presented its report on strengthening the effectiveness of the 55-nation security Organization to Chairman-in-Office Dimitrij Rupel on Monday.

After receiving the report by the seven-member panel from Ambassador Knut Vollebaek, a former Norwegian foreign minister who was OSCE Chairman in 1999, Minister Rupel said he was pleased that the document had been entitled "Common Purpose."

"What the 55 States of the OSCE need to do is to rediscover a sense of common purpose in addressing issues that are common to them all. I hope that the recommendations contained in this report will help to work towards that end," he said.

The 32-page report will be made public on Thursday June 30 after being presented to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna.

It will be considered by all OSCE States in high-level consultations on the Organization's future during the autumn.

The Chairman-in-Office dedicated the report to one of its authors, Russian Panel member Nikolay Afanasievsky, who died last week just as the report was being finalized.

The other members of the Panel were Hans van den Broek (Netherlands), Wilhelm Hoeynck (Federal Republic of Germany), Kuanysh Sultanov (Republic of Kazakhstan), Richard S. Williamson (United States) and Miomir Zuzul (Republic of Croatia)