Good governance is this year’s theme of the OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum that will take place in Prague in September. A preparatory meeting in Vienna in February that focussed on combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism will be followed by a meeting on combating corruption in Dublin in April.

Digital media freedom will be discussed among government representatives, media experts, civil society and IT businesses in June in Dublin. Together with its priorities, the Irish Chairmanship has proposed a multi-year programme dubbed Helsinki+40 for developing an action plan for the OSCE, a task that was set for future chairmanships at the 2010 Summit in Astana. This will be developed in close co-operation with Troika partners and future OSCE Chairs. The participating States adopted a decision on 10 February 2012 that Switzerland and Serbia will Chair the OSCE in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Clearly defined short-term goals, a long-term plan: those are two leaves of the shamrock the Irish Chairmanship is bringing to the OSCE. And the third? The third is the Irish love of conversation which the Chairmanship is bringing into play in encouraging dialogue among the participating States and supporting efforts to resolve the protracted conflicts besetting the OSCE region. The Chairperson-in-Office has appointed two Special Representatives, Pádraig Murphy and Erwan Fouéré, who have begun working to find ways forward in the Transdniestrian Settlement Process, the Geneva Discussions and in addressing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. An official 5+2 meeting (including mediators, observers and the parties) on settlement of the Transdniestrian conflict will be held in Dublin on 28 and 29 February, the second since official talks were re-established in Vilnius on 30 November after a hiatus of almost 6 years. May the road rise up to meet them and the wind be at their back.

Source: The OSCE Magazine