An OSCE Experiment in Connectivity
By Ursula Froese
“Connectivity” – in the world of ICT, the concept is clear: it refers to how well a piece of software interacts with others. But in politics, it is still fresh, open to interpretation. Exactly what you need when you want to give impetus to a new agenda, a new direction. In the case of the conference “Connectivity for Commerce and Investment” hosted by the German OSCE Chairmanship in Berlin earlier this year, a new approach to connecting international politics and business.
“You have all traveled to Berlin,” said OSCE Chairperson-in-Office German Foreign Minister Franz-Walter Steinmeier in his welcoming remarks, “to engage in an experiment: an experiment because we want to talk about political visions at a time of severe political discord, an experiment because we want to talk about concrete co-operation at a time when violent conflicts in our common area are claiming lives almost every day, and an experiment because we want to talk about trade and business at a time when many people believe that our vision of a common area of security and stability will never come to pass.”
Almost 1,000 invited delegates crowded into the Foreign Ministry building’s plenary hall for the opening session on 18 May. High-level business people, policymakers, experts and diplomats had come from across the OSCE region and beyond, North America, Western Europe, Russia, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Mongolia, the Mediterranean and Southeast Asia, including China.
In itself, the idea of bringing business and politics together is not new to the OSCE. Commercial exchange was given a prominent place already in the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, the Organization’s seminal document. After the Cold War ended, members of the business community from East and West were invited to the first annual Economic Forum in 1992 to help to kick-start a shared market economy. That gathering, since renamed the Economic and Environmental Forum, is still held in Prague every September, on a theme set by the OSCE Chairmanship (this year’s Forum, from 13 to 15 September, was devoted to good governance.)
What was the novelty, then, of what Steinmeier was proposing to his guests? New, for one, was the understanding that the economy is not just one area of inter-governmental co-operation among others, as may have been the case in the past. In Helsinki four decades ago, there was agreement, but also skepticism, among the participating States about including economic and environmental issues – the so-called “second basket” – in the comprehensive security agenda.
Forty-one years later, the idea of holding this conference on connectivity was carried by the conviction that lasting peace and stability will never be achieved in the OSCE region unless economic ties are strengthened across the board, and that this can only be done in partnership with business and industry. There was a sense of urgency among the delegates in Berlin, of hope, even, that they may be holding a key to loosening the geopolitical deadlock that seems to be tightening its grip on this group of 57 states committed to building a security community stretching across the northern hemisphere.
Also new was the realization that fundamental questions about our economic stability can only be addressed if we look beyond the borders of the OSCE region. That is why, for instance, a prominent place was given to the presentation of the “One Belt, One Road” project by the delegation from China, neither an OSCE participating State nor an official Partner for Co-operation.
Giving shape to the concept
As the conference got underway, the contours of what connectivity could mean in the OSCE context began to take shape. Steinmeier got the ball rolling by referring to the one of the most material ways of connecting a region: by rail. He named the example of the cargo line of over 10,300 kilometers that begins in Chongging, China, runs over Khorgos and Moscow and ends in Duisburg, Germany, a route used, for instance, by the computer company Hewlett Packard to ship its laptops from China to Duisburg in 12 days, as opposed to 45 days by sea.
“This amazing connection over several climate zones shows the geographical challenges of shaping our common space from the transatlantic partners to Europe to Asia,” he said. “It shows the huge economic dynamic that is already developing or has the potential to develop in this space. And it shows the importance of politics dealing with the economy and the other way round.”
In the ensuing sessions, other projects for building regional transport corridors were brought to the table, as were ways to enhance existing ones by harmonizing laws and reducing transaction costs. The challenge for landlocked countries to bring their goods to market was given special attention. Infrastructures for transporting more ephemeral goods, fuel and power, were also discussed. On the topic of energy security, the OSCE’s Office of the Co-ordinator of Economic and Environmental Activities announced the completion of its most recent publication, Protecting Electricity Networks from Natural Hazards.
There were lively exchanges about promoting financial investment in infrastructures and boosting regional trade. “On trade, a highly complex picture emerged,” said Mark Leonard, Director of the European Council on Foreign Relations. “On the one hand, global value chains provide new opportunities, but on the other, we are seeing increased protectionism and complex trade negotiations.”
The digital revolution, an all-pervasive theme, was the focus of a special plenary session. Kerstin Günther of Deutsche Telekom presented her company’s vision of a sweeping digitalizing of European telephone networks, describing the benefits to a small country like the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia which made the switch in 2013. Ross Lajeunesse of Google spoke about digital technology leveling the playing field for small- and medium-sized enterprises: “That is what global trade looks like today: it’s not cargo ships laying down big containers; it’s two entrepreneurs sitting on a sofa somewhere in Europe reaching new markets all around the world.”
The discussion did not stop at celebrating widening commercial horizons, however. Admonishments were voiced about the need, given the rapidity of change, to ensure that benefits are shared by all. “Digital technology is making life better, creating and improving jobs. This story cannot be told enough. But it’s going at such a pace that we have to ask, are we taking everyone with us?” said Alexander De Croo, the Belgian Minister for Development Co-operation, the Digital Agenda, Post and Telecommunications. “This is what national governments should work on,” he added.
Several workshops probed the relation between connectivity and conflict – in the Western Balkans, for example, where the OSCE has contributed for many years to post-conflict rehabilitation. “After all the terrible things that happened during the war, three key elements made it possible for countries in the region to connect with each other again: justice, the EU prospects for the region and economic development. The economy is really the key issue for peace and for stability,” remarked Almir Sahović, Assistant to the Foreign Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina. “That is why the Berlin Process that started in 2014, with its projects for infrastructure and for connecting the region’s youth, is so important,” he said.
Another workshop, touching closely upon the OSCE’s work to resolve protracted conflicts, focused on fostering trade in Transdniestria. (The OSCE works for the resolution of the conflict between Moldova and its breakaway region through its role in the settlement negotiations and its field operation in Chisinau.) Representatives of two Transdniestrian enterprises, a baby food manufacturer and a textile company, gave first-hand accounts of difficulties encountered and pragmatic solutions found for conducting international trade out of a grey economic zone. Participants concluded that efforts to stimulate economic co-operation should not wait for the conclusion of a political settlement and may even bring progress to a conflict resolution process.
This tone of optimism pervaded all of the discussions during the two days of plenaries, panels and workshops. At the same time, it was clear that making real progress in each of the areas explored would require digging deeper. How should the many questions raised be taken forward by the OSCE?
Daniel Baer, United States Ambassador to the OSCE, posed the question at the closing of the conference: “You can’t just have railways; you also need rules of the road. Not just new technology, but also people able to take advantage of it. It is a tenet of the OSCE that you can’t just have economic connectivity. One of the challenges for us going out of this conference will be how to take the specific topics that we have been looking at here and base our further discussions on the foundation of our OSCE commitments.”
Just weeks later, an opportunity presented itself in the OSCE context to address some of the thornier issues of regional economic co-operation, at the OSCE Security Days entitled “From Confrontation to Co-operation: Restoring Co-operative Security in Europe”, hosted by Secretary General Lamberto Zannier on 23 and 24 June, also in Berlin. Connectivity was one of the topics debated, in particular the relation between different forms of economic integration in the OSCE area, including the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union.
Austria, which will take over the OSCE Chairmanship in 2017, has announced that it will host a follow-up conference on connectivity next year, in Astana, in co-operation with Kazakhstan. The dialogue between politics and business which Germany started will therefore be continued.
“I applaud the experiment”, said De Croo, summarizing his experience at the meeting in Berlin. “The private sector is a good sparring partner for talking about security, because it can only thrive, can only invest, when there is stability. From another perspective, it is also a push factor, in the sense that if we as governments do bring security, do bring stability, it becomes very tangible what it is for and where it could lead.”
Ursula Froese is the editor of Security Community.