Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen

Let me express on behalf of my country the deepest appreciation and admiration to Mr. Flavio Cotti and the entire Swiss team for their excellent work during their chairmanship. We will remember the Swiss Chairmanship for its fresh and enthusiastic approach. The OSCE has continued to develop and Estonia is especially happy that the OSCE has continued to show that one of its greatest strengths is the strength to evolve. But we should be careful that vitality does not become volatility. My country believes that we need to make full and more efficient use of existing tools, rather than finding new roles which would be difficult to fulfil in practice.

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,

As we have developed the OSCE, we have come ever closer to reaching our goal of stability and cooperation in Europe. The past year has seen great strides forward. In our corner of the world, my country and its great neighbour and fellow OSCE member, Russia, have reached agreement on our mutual border and are developing our bilateral relations in atmosphere of trust and confidence. Estonia and Russia will always find a way to live together in peace. But even more important for all of us is that there is now true hope for lasting peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina where the OSCE has achieved a new quality and has proven its usefulness in regional stabilization.

From this, we reach a very important conclusion, which is that a regional organization should concentrate on what it does best.

The OSCE is the organization for conflict prevention and practical democracy building. This should be developed further. A good example would be an OSCE representative on freedom of the media.

Mr. Chairman,

To deal comprehensively with all the issues that our countries face, it is necessary to use all regional organizations. For example, the Council of Europe is irreplaceable when it comes to setting up and monitoring standards of human rights. The Council of Baltic Sea States would be the best forum for environmental issues in the region.

The division of labour between different organizations, which has been one of the matters of importance for the Swiss chairmanship, is also one for my country. We should not give the overlapping tasks to different organizations. It is not good if a matter settled in one organization is again and again questioned in another or obligations taken in one organization mean nothing to another. I that case, the respect for principles that are the basis of all international organizations may fade into opportunism and conformism and finally become meaningless. We must always remember that international organizations which recognize their different abilities, divide tasks, cooperate closely and recognize each others' conclusions will create a strong network of trust and stability between countries.

From this is clear that the OSCE when it seeks to promote stability should welcome and encourage the work of other organizations in issues for which they are better suited.

Mr. Chairman,

At the very beginning of the Helsinki process we agreed to proceed by consensus, which became the basis for our work. Even as we develop the OSCE, its essence should remain the same. Development of the OSCE is possible only as long as we maintain the basis upon which it was builtIf we were to change the essence of the OSCE, it would become a different organization and we would have to invent something else to carry out its important role. So let me ask you for consensus that consensus remain the basis for our future development.

In conclusion I would like to wish all the best to the next chairman, Foreign Minister Niels Helveg Petersen and to the Danish delegation.

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