Malta supports Palestinian application to join OSCE – Tonio Borg

“It is precisely in the context of creating trust and confidence that the application by the Palestinian National Authority for Partner Status in the OSCE should be positively considered,” Borg declared during his opening speech at the 2010 Mediterranean Conference which started this morning at the Westin Dragonara Hotel.

Borg explained how the OSCE should also reach out to other Mediterranean States “and encourage them to become OSCE partners”.

He recognised that OSCE participating stated continued to hold differing views on the PNA application.

“Until consensus can be reached, we believe that constructive steps could be taken with the same objective of creating conditions for open dialogue on areas of mutual interest,” Borg conceded.

The OSCE could perhaps consider inviting the PNA, interested potential Mediterranean partner countries and other regional actors “to periodic regular outreach meetings”.

These could be held “back to back with Mediterranean contact group meetings and could also serve as preparation for eventual partner status”.

As a European country at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, it was “only natural for Malta to place Euro-Mediterranean affairs at the heart of its foreign policy”, Borg told delegates.

Malta’s location made it “intimately aware of the intrinsic relationship between the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean”, he added.

“Our major strategic objective is to play a proactive role in the promotion of peace, stability and prosperity in the Mediterranean through different confidence and security building initiatives that further dialogue in our region. This Conference is one such initiative,” the Maltese Foreign Affairs Minister insisted.

He announced that next month, Malta would host the first regional conference for the Mediterranean of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations.

“Malta’s record over the past decade is a testimony of the importance that Malta attaches to this dialogue,” Borg insisted.

He revealed that in the first half of 2011, it was Malta’s intention to host the second summit of the Western Mediterranean Forum also known as the 5+5 Dialogue.

“Malta looks forward to the successful outcome of the Summit as a concrete contribution to the further development within this Mediterranean framework,” Borg insisted.

Malta also hosted the seat of the recently-established European Commission-League of Arab States liaison office, and the Parliamentary Assembly for the Mediterranean.

“In all these areas, the OSCE has accumulated vast experience and could perhaps have a contribution to make,” the Maltese Foreign Affairs Minister added.

The OSCE region today faced “a range of increasingly diverse and complex challenges”, many of which were transnational or even transregional in nature.

“These include the trafficking in arms, drugs and human beings, illegal migration, terrorism, intolerance, the lack of good governance, poverty and inequality and security risks arising from energy shortages or inadequate access to water,” Borg explained.

“Some of these challenges, previously viewed almost exclusively in a humanitarian context, are increasingly recognized as having a direct effect on regional and sub-regional security and can lead to instability or even conflict,” he insisted.

“Clearly, the OSCE can play a leading role in addressing a number of these challenges,” Borg added.

In other areas, the OSCE “should seek to develop stronger partnerships with other relevant actors, including regional and sub-regional organizations, in order to benefit from their expertise and insight and to provide its own particular added value,” Borg concluded.

Brincat praises OSCE’s ‘fight against corruption’ during meeting with Parliamentary FAC

During a Foreign & European Affairs Committee Meeting held this morning with the Secretary General of the OSCE Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, Labour Member of Parliament Leo Brincat praised the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's commitment and call for a fight against crime and corruption at a political level, “to the extent that it recently also appealed for the need for transparency and enforceable procedures for waiving parliamentary immunities in cases of criminal acts and ethical violations”.

He praised the OSCE Assembly for making this issue the main topic of the year while it called for national parliaments “to undertake an analysis of the levels of corruption in their public administrations by establishing specific parliamentary committees”.

Brincat augured that good governance, transparency and accountability would remain “centre stage” within this organisation.