Permanent Council

Guest speakers at the Permanent Council in 2007

11 January 20 February 30 April 10 July 25 October (Special PC):Chairman- Special Envoy of the (Special PC): Minister (Special PC): Prime Minister for Foreign in-Ofﬁ ce, Minister Secretary General of for Foreign Affairs Minister of Croatia, Affairs of Montenegro, for Foreign Affairs the UN for the Future of Kazakhstan, Ivo Sanader Milan Rocen and Cooperation of Status Process for Marat Tazhin — Spain, Miguel Angel Kosovo, 12 July High Representative Moratinos Martti Ahtisaari 23 May Minister for Foreign of the UN and the (Special Joint PC/FSC Affairs of Portugal, EU for Bosnia 18 January 8 March Meeting): Minister for Luis Filipe Marques and Herzegovina, Minister for Foreign (Special PC): President Foreign Affairs of the Amado Ambassador Affairs of Germany, of Lithuania, Russian Federation, Miroslav Lajcak Dr. Frank-Walter Valdas Adamkus Sergey Lavrov 17 July Steinmeier — (Special PC): Minister 30 October Minister for Foreign 31 May for Foreign Affairs of (Special PC): Prime 25 January Affairs of Albania, (Special PC): Secretary Serbia, Vuk Jeremic Minister of Georgia, Head of the EU Border Besnik Mustafaj of State of the United Zurab Noghaideli Assistance Mission, States, 19 July Brigadier-General 17 April Condoleezza Rice EU Special 15 November Ferenc Banﬁ (Special PC): Minister Representative UN Special for Foreign Affairs 14 June for Moldova, Representative of the 8 February of Armenia, Minister for Foreign Kalman Mizsei Secretary General for EU Special Vartan Oskanian Affairs of Georgia, Kosovo, Representative for Gela Bezhuashvili 26 July Joachim Ruecker the South Caucasus, 19 April Minister of Culture Ambassador EU Special 5 July and Information Peter Semneby Representative Secretary General of of Kazakhstan, for Skopje, the Council of Europe, Yermukhamet 13 February Erwan Fouere Terry Davis Yertysbayev (Special PC): Secretary — — General of the 26 April Secretary General of the Secretary General Collective Security Minister for Foreign Shanghai Cooperation of the Eurasian Treaty Organization, Affairs of Ukraine, Organisation, Economic Community, Nikolay Bordyuzha Arseniy Yatsenyuk Ambassador Bolat K. Ambassador Grigory Nurgaliyev Alexeyevich Rapota Permanent Council

The Chairman of the OSCE Permanent Council, Ambassador Carlos Sanchez de Boado of Spain, at the Hofburg in Vienna on 11 January (OSCE/Mikhail Evstafi ev) The Permanent Council, which convenes weekly in the meetings and recommendations for follow-up. It also Hofburg in Vienna, is the Organization’s main body for considered the work of the relevant OSCE Institutions in political consultation and decision-making. this area. In 2007, many senior political offi cials from OSCE Each committee discussed a number of political participating States addressed the Permanent Council initiatives and draft texts, which resulted in various deci- and presented their views on contentious and important sions and declarations of the Permanent Council and the issues. The Council also heard numerous reports from Ministerial Council. Heads of Institutions, fi eld operations and the Chair- The Chairmanship found the committees provided man’s Personal Representatives. a useful interface between participating States, the One of the more diffi cult and lengthy but ulti- Secretariat, Institutions and, in some cases, a broader mately successful debates surrounded the appointment constituency including civil society. All three commit- of a new High Commissioner on National Minorities. The tees fulfi lled their work programmes; they each met once Spanish Chairmanship steered the appointment of Knut a month or more as needed, dealing fl exibly with their Vollebaek of Norway, who took up his duties on 4 July, respective portfolios. succeeding Rolf Ekeus. Many participating States praised The committees were particularly invaluable in the Chairmanship’s decision to use a food-for-thought their consultative role in planning the Ministerial Council paper to help pull together a consensus; they suggested in Madrid. In general, the Chairmanship found the com- employing a similarly transparent process in future. mittees enhanced planning throughout the year and The main innovation of the year was the launch increased transparency in the process of consultation. of the three-committee structure. Adopted at the Brussels Ministerial to refl ect the three OSCE security dimensions, the committees transformed the Council’s day-to-day work. The Chairmanship considered the committees’ record in the fi rst year to be very satisfactory, although still perfectible, and suggested extending their mandate with a view to making them permanent. The Security Committee, led by Ambassador Peter Lizak, the Permanent Representative of Slovakia, drove forward the OSCE work programme against terrorism and co-operated with the Mediterranean Partners in this fi eld. Similarly, the Committee shepherded OSCE agendas on border security and management, interna- tional anti-drug co-operation, work on organized crime, community-based policing and other issues. The Economic and Environmental Committee, chaired fi rst by the Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan, Ambassador Doulat Kuanyshev followed by Ambassador Artim Zekoli, the Permanent Repre- sentative of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, helped prepare the Economic and Environmental Forum and discussed follow-up recommendations. It examined the economic and environmental aspects of security. The Human Dimension Committee was chaired by the Chairman of the Permanent Council and the Permanent Representative of Spain to the OSCE, Ambas- sador Carlos Sanchez de Boado. The committee looked at the implementation of commitments by participating States in this sphere, provided support for relevant OSCE