Athens , 30 November 2009

Mr. Droutsas: So once again a warm welcome to all of you to Athens. It is a real pleasure having you here as our guests, and as I said before, I express the hope that besides the plenty of work you will have here covering the proceedings and the works of the Ministerial Meeting, you will also find some time to get to know and enjoy a little bit our, I think, beautiful capital, Athens.

I apologise that I will not be able to be here with you too long, just for some brief introductory remarks, but I am sure that we will have plenty of time and opportunities during the next two days to be in touch and discuss also all the other issues.

I just want to take advantage of this our first meeting to say a few words also about the foreign policy that the new Greek government is exercising. As you know, we are a government some 50 days old, or young, as I used to say, but our intention is, the intention of the new Greek government is to exercise a dynamic foreign policy, which shall be characterised also by a number of initiatives, giving Greece also the face, the voice and the role that we think Greece must have and deserves to have in all major international developments, and particularly in our neighbourhood, in the Balkans.

Let me take this opportunity to briefly mention the first big initiative that we have been proposing for the European accession process for the European future of our immediate neighbourhood, the Balkans, the countries of the Western Balkans, the – I hope already now famous – Agenda 2014 that we want to promote for our immediate neighbourhood, the countries of the Western Balkans.

Briefly, the philosophy behind that is to say that we have a number of open wounds that we are still confronted with in our region, and it is an opportunity if the European Union, the most successful peace project in Europe, as we see it, would take this opportunity and also take up its responsibilities for this region and contribute to peace and stability in the Balkans, which are a part, a historical part of Europe, by accepting those countries to become EU member states, hopefully by 2014.

I emphasise this, a symbolic date, where we say a hundred years after the beginning of World War I, which one can regard as the root of all the open conflicts we are still faced with, confronted with, in the Balkans. And for symbolic reasons, we could say the European Union, the most successful peace project, shall also contribute to stability in the region.

This is just as an introduction and taking advantage of your presence here, because this is something that is, I think, of importance also for the region, and also has something to do with the work of an organisation like the OSCE, which in our view is also a very, very important contributor to creating peace and stability here in Europe.

So this is why we think that Greece’s chairmanship in office is complementary in the OSCE, is complementary also to the national policies that a chairmanship in office can exercise and promote.

A few words about tomorrow’s Ministerial Council and the day after tomorrow. It is the 17^th Ministerial Council. We will have more than 40-45 foreign ministers and 57 delegations will participate. Of course, we expect a high-level, targeted and useful meeting and discussions.

First and foremost, I would like to concentrate on the so-called Corfu Process. we think that this is also the legacy of the Greek chairmanship in office, and we very much hope and we are convinced that tomorrow’s Ministerial Council will offer an opportunity to take this Corfu Process forward.

As you know, the Greek OSCE chairmanship launched the Corfu Process this year, back in the summer, at the Greek island of Kerkyra, Corfu, and the idea was to foster an open and honest dialogue on the security challenges and the new threats in the 21^st century.

We believe that the OSCE is a natural forum for this dialogue, as the only regional security organisation to bring together countries like the United States, Canada and Europe, including the Russian Federation and the rest of the former Soviet Union. And our aim and what we hope to do is to be able to have a declaration and a decision at the Ministerial Council to affirm the Process, and determine also its way forward.

The Corfu Process, most of you will certainly know the details, but let me just say a few words about that. The Corfu Process is a dialogue, as already mentioned, that was launched by OSCE foreign ministers back in June, during the first ever informal meeting in Corfu, and which in turn built on the high-level, multilateral discussions held during the Helsinki Ministerial Council back in December 2008. And the Corfu Process promotes, as we feel it, a much needed sense of shared responsibility and solidarity.

And again we think that all participating states have embraced this Process, demonstrating the political will to preserve a cooperative and indivisible security in wider Europe. and the dialogue aims to reconfirm our common achievements, and this includes the commitments we have undertaken and the institutions we have built.

It also aims at reviewing the state of play of European security and to enhance further our mechanisms, so as to deal with traditional but also new challenges.

And this dialogue was continued this fall at ambassadorial level in Vienna, and let me take this opportunity also to thank all permanent representatives in Vienna, and of course our Permanent Representative, Ambassador Marinaki, for all the work, the hard work they have done so far. And we very much hope that we will be able to – let me put it this way – bring to a successful end this hard work of our permanent representatives also at the political level.

Let me also say, finally, that this process remains open-ended, and is likely to last long enough, in order that all participating states’ ideas will be carefully studied. But what our aim is here in Athens is to lay down as concretely as possible the framework, and to lay the foundations for the effective and efficient continuation of the discussions that we have started by the Corfu Process.

Last but not least, may I also from this point, but of course we will have the opportunity also during the closing press conference to say these words, and also during the discussions and during the Ministerial Council, of course we are looking forward also to the continuation of this work by the next presidency, by Kazakhstan. I think it is a very important and also symbolic move that Kazakhstan will be the first Central Asian country and the first member of the Commonwealth of Independent States to chair the OSCE, and this serves, I think, as additional proof of the OSCE’s truly multiregional nature, and I think this is also proof that walls that might exist, either really or in the minds of some, that all the walls are starting to fall down.

So already from now on we are looking forward to the Kazakh chairmanship in the OSCE, wishing them all the best already now, and also expressing our hope, wish, and of course willingness by Greece to fully cooperate with the next chairmanship in all the issues they will be taking up.

Just these words as a brief introduction, and a warm welcome again. I again apologise that I will not be able to be available anymore, because the work, the hard work, for the successful results of our Ministerial Council is already starting now, with some bilateral meetings.

And I am also looking forward, I think this evening we will also have a first opportunity to speak a little bit also off the record and in a more relaxed way, I think at the Acropolis Museum. Thank you very much.

Mr. Nesirky: Perhaps maybe I could help you will a couple of logistical points, before you ask any questions you might have.

First of all, you have just had Minister Droutsas here for a briefing. There will be lots of opportunities during the course of this Ministerial Council to speak to ministers who will be dropping by into the Press Centre. We will let you know when they are coming, and indeed there is already a preliminary schedule which will be circulated.

But clearly, keep in touch with us, and when we know that a minister is going to drop by, we will try to give you as much advance notice as possible, to help you. This will be a chance for you to ask them how things are going, as it’s actually happening.

The second thing is that, if you have specific interview requests, there is a Media Information Desk just outside this briefing room, and you are very welcome to make your requests to them, and we’ll do our best to help you.

And the third thing is that, as you have heard, here at the Ministerial Council there is a lot of high diplomacy going on, discussions. And this is, if you like, the one half of the story of the OSCE that deals with dialogue. It’s a forum for dialogue, where we discuss and agree on things.

The other half of the work that we do, just as important, is that we actually translate those discussions into action. We actually do things on the ground to help people.

And there will be an event tomorrow at 11:30, with the Alternate Defence Minister of Greece and the Acting Defence Minister of Ukraine, and this will be looking at some of the really hands-on work that is being done by the OSCE to make the region safer.

Just to give you a couple of examples, a project has just started in Ukraine, dealing with highly toxic rocket fuels, that is, if you like, left over from the Soviet era. Really dangerous stuff, 16,000 tons of it, and the OSCE – its biggest project so far is going to be helping to render that material safe.

And so there will be a briefing that will look at that. We will also be looking, for example, at how we work to reduce the threat from small arms and light weapons. Much, much smaller than larger containers full of toxic fuels, but small arms and light weapons can do tremendous damage in the wrong hands.

So if you would like to come along to that I would suggest that that is a really interesting action balance, if you like, to the work that is going on on a political level.

It is at 11.30, but you need to gather, or at least report to the information desk at 11.00. So that is pretty much where we are with that. If you have any questions? Do you have anything else at this point?

Mr. Delavekouras: As I said, we hope to see everybody today at the Acropolis Museum, it is a very good opportunity. And we will also have Minister Droutsas and Minister Petalotis join us later at the reception. Thank you very much for being here.

Journalist: Knowing that the Greek Chairmanship is trying to take the Corfu Process one step forward, could you please give us the framework of the political declaration which is going to be discussed or is going to come out, given the fact that there is some sensitive equilibrium in the relations between the West and Russia?

Mr. Delavekouras: So we started the Corfu Process based on the high level talks that we had in Helsinki, and it was a very important initiative from the Greek side to convene the first ever informal ministerial meeting at Corfu last June.

There, there was a clear commitment by all participating states that they want to join hands and get involved in the discussions to try to work on a new security environment in Europe in the 21^st century. You probably remember that the Greek chairmanship used as a basis for this dialogue the proposals that have already been made by President Medvedev and President Sarkozy. And we were very happy to see that the participating states joined and embraced this process, demonstrating a political will to preserve a cooperative and indivisible security in wider Europe.

Right now in Athens we hope to be able to reach a decision and the Declaration on the Corfu Process that will take this dialogue forward and for the first time have the participating states clearly commit themselves to this process on the way forward for European security.

We hope that we will be able to accomplish this target and we stand ready to assist the Kazakhstan chairmanship that will take this work forward next year, both as members of the troika and thanks to our strong participation so far in this process.

Mr. Nesirky: On the framework, I think you mentioned that it was politically sensitively balanced, and so precisely for that reason it is not really a good idea to start talking about the details while diplomats are still negotiating and discussing those details. What I would say is that the last political declaration to come out of an OSCE Ministerial Council was in 2002, and successive chairmanships have worked extremely hard and I think that the Greek chairmanship has also worked extremely hard and as we speak is aiming to pull together the kind of language that can find consensus, because as you know all decisions in the OACE have to be taken by consensus.

So you are right it is finely balanced, we cannot go into details now.

Journalist: French President Sarkozy has proposed holding a Summit for Heads of State next year at Astana, in 2010. I wanted to know what the Greek position is and whether there are objections – from what I understood from the Greek position also on the part of the U.S. – why there are such objections.

Mr. Delavekouras: There are a number of countries, participating states. that are in favor of holding a summit next year and it certainly is a matter that we are discussing right now. As Martin said earlier, all decisions need to be taken by consensus. So we sincerely hope that the participating states will be able to reach consensus on this issue and have a decision by next Monday on how they want to move forward next year with the Kazakhstan chairmanship. We are the one trying to be the honest broker here and trying to bring all sides concerned to the same table to reach a consensus. So I will not go into what the Greek position is because our main target, as it has been throughout the Greek chairmanship, has been to try to bridge the difference there might be on each and every issue, and I think we have done a very good job so far. I think that the Corfu process is a real testament to that, and we hope that the Athens Ministerial will be as successful as possible and that it will give new impetus to the work of the OSCE, which has been our main target throughout the year.

Mr. Nesirky: Again just a little bit on the background if you like. Summits are, as the name would suggest, something that takes place at the highest level; therefore, they have to have the highest quality substance. And you can get a measure of how important it is that that is in place, because since 1975 there have been 6 summit meetings in the OSCE framework and the last one was in Istanbul in 1999, about ten years ago.

That gives you a measure of how important it is for everything to flow together in the right way.

Journalist: I would like to ask the following: For 10 years, there has been no OSCE Summit, which means that the Organization has lost its strength somewhat. Following the Corfu Process, as we understand from the meeting between the permanent representatives of the OSCE participating states, everyone wants the Organization to be upgraded and for the dialogue as part of the Corfu Process to be promoted. How do you explain that? That is my first question. And a second question: which one of the three dimensions will the Athens Ministerial Meeting be mostly concerned with? Thank you.

Mr. Delavekouras: Thank you very much for your question. The Greek chairmanship has tried from the beginning to give the OSCE the power to move forward the very important agenda that it has. And unfortunately during the last years our sense was that for reasons that did not always have to do with the OSCE itself, discussions here were difficult to progress.

There has been a clear change in international atmospherics that we tried and took advantage of, in order to start a new process. The vehicle we used was the Corfu Process. The Corfu Process gave the OSCE a very important marker to discuss, a very important marker for the entire continent. We believe that this discussion has really given the OSCE a new dynamism. This is represented by the fact that we have such a high turnout in this Ministerial, the Athens Ministerial, and we also get a sense from the participating states that there is an eagerness to discuss and move forward with the OSCE Agenda.

Now with regard to the three pillars. We expect to have discussions on each and every issue. We have a lot of decisions in the making. We hope that we will be as successful as possible, and that by Wednesday afternoon we will be able to announce real progress on every issue.

Mr. Nesirky: That is absolutely right. It is certainly the case that there are draft decisions, there are discussions on decisions, in all three areas of security, not just in one. It is balanced between those three. And just on whether the OSCE has become less and less powerful over the years: of course if you measure it by summits you could say that is the case. But just as I mentioned, there is that example with a major project on dealing with toxic rocket fuel, there is a lot going on behind the scenes on the ground that is still helping people in a very practical way, even if there are not summit meetings going on.

Journalist: Thank you. Who will take part in the Armenia group meeting for tomorrow? All the members of the group or only the co-chair countries, and will a statement follow to connect it with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict? Thank you.

Mr. Nesirky: To my knowledge this will involve the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan and the three co-chair countries. Let’s see how the meeting goes.

Journalist: Can you please tell us what bilaterals have been planned for this meeting?

Mr. Nesirky: How long have you got? I think Gregory can tell you about the bilaterals on the Greek side.

Mr. Delavekouras: But we are still trying to finalize the schedules because things keep coming in. My sense until now is that there will be meetings with the Foreign Ministers of Albania, Hungary, Ukraine, France. Of course there will be a Troika meeting, which is Finland, Greece and Kazakhstan. Then the Deputy Secretary of State, Steinberg, from the U.S. We expect a meeting with the Foreign Minister of Turkey, and of course a meeting with the Foreign Minister of Russia, Mr. Lavrov. And then the Alternate Minister, until now, he has scheduled a meeting, it had not been finalized yet, but it will probably take place with his counterpart from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

There are also a few other meetings in the pipeline. We will have more, but not yet. All the bilateral meetings that are to be covered by photographers and cameras will be announced over the CCTV system, and as soon as I have a list that is close to being final I will distribute it at the press center. But changes keep happening so I do not want to give you something that will not be accurate.

Mr. Nesirky: Well, you can kind of times that by 56. I mean there are many other combinations. Your best bet to really get up-to-date information is directly from the delegations. You can speak directly to the delegations and they can tell you what they are able to tell you at that point. But also ask us and we will do our best to help you. Various meetings have been taking place already.

Journalist: Is there a chance for a meeting between Mr. Droutsas and Mr. Milososki or the Foreign Minister? Is there such a meeting on the agenda? And are they going to discuss the name issue given that we haven’t got much left to the [December] Summit?

Mr. Delavekouras: They may meet. As you know there is a process, a UN process for the discussions on the main issue.  It is taking place under the auspices of the UN, and Ambassador Matthew Nimetz is doing the negotiations, with the two countries’ negotiators.

Now, a meeting between the Alternate Foreign Minister Droutsas and the Foreign Minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Milososki, in Athens, would include all aspects of bilateral relations, and of course the name issue would be discussed, but I wouldn’t want to deviate from the method and the framework of our negotiations at the UN. And this is where we expect to have progress, and this is where we expect the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to come with a constructive attitude, in order to have progress and reach a mutually acceptable solution. So this is what we expect. Thank you.

Journalist: OK, I came in a little late, so I don't know if you discussed this at the beginning, but just quickly about the bilats again. I just wanted to know if you know if there is going to be any Armenia-Azerbaijan bilat today, if perhaps you might be aware of that or not.

Mr. Nesirky: I am not aware of a bilat today. I mentioned that the Minsk Group co-chairs, the three co-chair countries of France, Russia and the United States, it is my understanding that tomorrow they will meet with the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, in that framework.

You should check with the other two delegations, with the Armenian delegation and the delegation of Azerbaijan; maybe they can help you further on that.

Journalist: Russia has now drafted a European security pack that it has handed out to Europe. That will be under discussion here, I am assuming, the Russian draft?

Mr. Delavekouras: We have received President Medvedev’s proposal, which will be carefully studied by all participating states, I am sure. And we expect Minister Lavrov, who will be here, to discuss more about its content.

Mr. Nesirky: What the man said.

Journalist: Another big question on the bilaterals. Will the Prime Minister be coming at all to the summit? Will Mr. Papandreou be coming to the summit, or will Mr. Droutsas be handling all the bilaterals?

Mr. Delavekouras: No, Prime Minister Papandreou is also the Chairman of the OSCE, and he will be chairing all the meetings of the OSCE, starting tomorrow morning and throughout the two-day period.

Journalist: (off microphone) …bilaterals with the respective ministers of Albania, etc., as you mentioned earlier…

Mr. Delavekouras: Yes. I made a distinction between which ones were for the Prime Minister and which ones were for the Alternate Minister.

Thank you very much and welcome.