The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania,

Affirming allegiance to the political principles formulated in the Helsinki Final Act, the Charter of Paris for a New Europe and the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE, the decisions of meetings of Heads of State and Government of the Participating States of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (hereinafter referred to as the “OSCE”) as well as in other documents laying the foundations for the work of the OSCE, and urging all the OSCE Participating States to adhere to the said principles consistently and in good faith;

Acknowledging the merits of the OSCE in creating an ambience of security and confidence, promoting co-operation and developing a political dialogue of all the Participating States as well as dialogue with partners of the Organization in all the fields agreed upon: political and military, economic and environmental and the human dimension;

Emphasizing the role of the OSCE in providing joint response to new hazards to the security of the Participating States, including threat of terrorism, circulation of drugs, small arms proliferation and trafficking in human beings, as well as in ensuring respect for human rights, promoting tolerance and combating all forms of racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism;

Acknowledging the importance of dialogue within the OSCE on the future of European security (the Corfu Process);

Appreciating the effort and experience of the OSCE in seeking a peaceful resolution of long-standing conflicts between and within states and prevention of new conflicts;

Welcoming the contribution of the parliamentarians of the Participating States of the OSCE in implementing the goals and principles of the Organization;

Emphasizing the importance of inter-parliamentary co-operation within the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and recalling the successful session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Vilnius, in 2009;

Noting that Lithuania’s political parties, in their Agreement on the Main Goals and Objectives of Lithuania’s Foreign Policy for 2004-2008, named the aspiration for the osce Chairmanship among the main foreign policy objectives, and

Taking into consideration the complex nature of the activities of the OSCE requiring international and national inter-institutional effort,

Considers the future Lithuanian OSCE Chairmanship a national priority and a tool in attaining the goals and objectives of Lithuania’s foreign policy shared by other Participating States of the OSCE and aimed at reinforcing security, confidence and democracy within the entire OSCE, and in implementing and developing the commonly recognized values;

Intends, during the Lithuanian OSCE Chairmanship, to actively develop inter-parliamentary co-operation and contribute to ensuring the efficient work of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and continuous support for the goals and principles advocated by the OSCE;

Believes that the political guidelines of the Lithuanian OSCE Chairmanship should, inter alia, include: continuation of a dialogue on the future of European security (the Corfu Process); response to new security challenges, including combating all forms of terrorism and ensuring cyber security; reaction to the threats emanating from Afghanistan; participation in the process of resolution of long-standing conflicts and prevention of new conflicts, while respecting the territorial integrity of the Participating States of the OSCE; promotion of regional co-operation within the OSCE; enhancement of co-operation in the fields of energy security and transportation; consolidation of the OSCE human dimension and implementation of its commitments with particular regard to freedom of the media; support for the activities of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR); 

Proposes that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania identify the political priorities of the Lithuanian OSCE Chairmanship coordinating them with the top officials of the State, the committees of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, the institutions subordinate to the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and, where necessary and possible, involving civic society into this dialogue;

Urges the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and the institutions subordinate to it to allocate, in the course of preparation for the OSCE Chairmanship and during the OSCE Chairmanship, sufficient human and financial resources with a view to successfully attaining the chairmanship goals and performing the tasks in a professional manner;

Undertakes to support, through parliamentary activities and the instruments of parliamentary scrutiny, the allocation of sufficient resources for the goals of the Lithuanian OSCE Chairmanship;

Recommends that all institutions subordinate to the Government of the Republic of Lithuania closely co-operate with a view to attaining the goals set for the Lithuanian OSCE Chairmanship and welcomes the decisions adopted and the effort made, and

Invites Lithuania’s non-governmental organisations to actively engage in the activities of international civil society networks in supporting the goals and objectives of the OSCE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaker of the seimas                                                           irena degutienė