COPENHAGEN – As the 2020 OSCE Chairmanship comes to a close, the Chairperson-in-Office for the year, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, signed the Parliamentary Assembly’s “OSCE Call for Action.” In doing so, Rama joined his predecessors as well as other leaders of OSCE institutions, former Secretaries General and OSCE PA Presidents in calling for streamlining and refocusing OSCE activities to confront key challenges in fields where the Organization has deep expertise and a comparative advantage.
“In this final act of the Albanian Chairmanship, we add our voice to those who have signed this call to help ensure that the OSCE remains strong and in a position to foster comprehensive and co-operative security,” said Prime Minister Rama. “As an Albanian politician I have seen in the past the work that the OSCE has done in my country and as a consumer of the OSCE product I can attest to the great work that this Organization does. During this year as Chair I have had the opportunity to further explore the great potential of the OSCE and I am convinced that we need to fully exploit its potential. The OSCE PA initiative is very timely and I wish to congratulate the Assembly’s leadership for launching it.”
OSCE PA President Peter Lord Bowness welcomed Rama’s signature. “To realize our shared vision declared over 45 years ago in the Helsinki Final Act, we must all work together to ensure that our commitments are fully implemented, that dialogue is chosen over confrontation, and that multilateralism is chosen over unilateralism,” said President Bowness. “I thank Prime Minister Rama for joining this initiative.”
OSCE PA High-Level Expert Ambassador Lamberto Zannier noted that by joining the initiative, Rama has underscored its timeliness and political significance. “Joining leaders of the OSCE over the last 30 years, Edi Rama adds his voice to the call for more effective multilateralism. Having just led the OSCE in one of the most challenging years in modern history, the Albanian Chairmanship has worked to build a stronger organization to meet our challenges under difficult circumstances.”
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OSCE PA Secretary General Roberto Montella noted that the Call for Action can help the OSCE overcome its difficulties.
“In these times of unprecedented global challenges and at the close of a year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, we see more clearly than ever the need for effective multilateralism,” Montella said. “But at the same time, there is a lack of appreciation for international organizations and for the OSCE in particular. The challenges facing the OSCE are many – some of these are external, and some are internal, but none of them are insurmountable. As this year comes to a close, I hope that we can look ahead to a year of a renewed commitment to making the OSCE as strong as it can be, and I am confident that the incoming Swedish Chairmanship shares this commitment.”
The PA’s Call for Action, which has been endorsed by more than 50 former OSCE Chairpersons-in-Office, Presidents of the OSCE PA, Secretaries General and other Heads of Institutions of the OSCE, was presented at an event on the margins of the OSCE Ministerial Council on 3 December. It aims to stimulate the work of the OSCE and increase the political attention to it, reaffirming the importance of governments implementing their key commitments and proposes a set of considerations aimed at strengthening the role of the Organization in addressing the contemporary challenges.
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
Caption: OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Albania’s Prime Minister and Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Edi Rama, addresses the OSCE Permanent Council, Vienna, 28 August 2020. (OSCE/Ghada Hazim)