Mr. Chairman,
Distinguished Ambassador Kubis,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Introduction
It is my great pleasure
to have this opportunity to address the
workshop on "The Economic Dimension of Security
in Europe: Facing New Challenges in a Changing
Europe", particularly because it has been
organized in cooperation with the Organisation
for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
I would like to thank Mr.
Ivanov, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs
of Bulgaria, currently holding the presidency
in the OSCE, for having accepted our invitation
to participate in the workshop and to chair
the first session.
Unfortunately Mr. Chris
Patten, European Union Commissioner for
External Relations, is not able to participate
personally in today's meeting due to his
very busy schedule, but he has provided
us with his address, which will be kindly
presented by the distinguished Ambassador
Carlo Trojan, Head of the Delegation of
the European Commission in Geneva. Mr. Walter
Schwimmer, Secretary-General of the Council
of Europe, has also apologized for not being
with us today due to unexpected important
commitments, but Mr. Schwimmer has designated
Mr. Guy de Vel, Director-General of Legal
Affairs of the Council of Europe, to deliver
the presentation on his behalf.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Enlargement and "Beyond
enlargement" Project
During the last decade,
the UNECE region has experienced many far-reaching
changes. This year brings the most significant
one: EU enlargement to include ten new member
countries. In less than two months the map
of Europe will be redrawn and the EU external
borders will be greatly expanded towards
the East.
There are many question
marks about the challenges, opportunities
and implications of this historical enlargement
for the entire region, and particularly
for the countries in Eastern Europe, the
Caucasus, Central Asia and the Western Balkans.
In UNECE we have sought
to address major issues regarding the new
shape of relations between the enlarged
EU and its future neighbouring countries,
and other non-acceding transition countries
within the region. We have initiated a discussion
on "Beyond enlargement: economic cooperation
and integration in a wider Europe" through
a series of workshops. This series of sectoral
workshops, which is being supported by the
EU, is designed to help (a) limit the prospect
of new divisions arising in the region through
economic cooperation and integration between
the enlarged EU and non-acceding transition
countries, and (b) define the role of the
UNECE in the wider Europe in order to address
the needs of non-acceding transition countries.
We have so far organized workshops in the
sectors of energy, trade, business and FDI,
environment, transport and regulatory convergence.
In December 2003, UNECE
issued the publication "Beyond Enlargement:
Trade, Business and Investment in a Wider
Europe", which is also available today at
the desk in front of the meeting room, and
we are currently preparing another publication
on regulatory convergence in non-acceding
transition countries.
The objective of the project
is - as noted - to promote a better understanding
of the need for coordinated efforts to prevent
new divisions in the UNECE region after
EU enlargement. All main stakeholders -
the EU, governments of non-acceding States,
the business sector and NGOs, and relevant
international organizations - have a role
to play.
The current workshop on
"The Economic Dimension of Security in Europe:
Facing New Challenges in a Changing Europe"
is primarily aimed at looking beyond enlargement
from the perspective of the economic dimension
of security. Secondly, it should look at
the scope of the threats in the economic
dimension of security, and thirdly, give
an impetus for future cooperation among
the key players OSCE-UNECE-Council of Europe
and the role of the EU in this cooperation.
Why does the economic
dimension of security matter?
In the past, conflict prevention
was seen as the actions and policies undertaken
to avoid the threat or use of armed force,
like diplomacy or the physical presence
of a deterrent force, etc. Today the approach
to conflict prevention is different. There
is a shared vision in Europe to address
the security challenges more effectively
and to put more emphasis on the economic
and environmental dimensions of insecurity.
What are the main elements
of the economic dimension of security in
the region? What are the key roots which
threaten security? And what are the catalysts
of stability in the region?
EU integration has been
an anchor for reforms and stability in the
UNECE region. During the past fifteen years,
the EU has developed a series of bilateral
arrangements with almost all UNECE member
States, including the Europe Agreements,
Stabilization and Association Agreements
and Partnership and Cooperation Agreements.
Since last year, the EU has been developing
a new cooperation framework for its new
neighbouring countries.
The prospect of EU membership
or privileged relationships with the EU
has been a powerful catalyst of reforms,
stability and secure relations. After the
last decade's political and economic changes,
the countries of Central and Eastern Europe,
which embarked on political and economic
transformation, concluded Europe Agreements
with the EU. The prospect of EU membership
subject to fulfilling all conditions, including
building stable democratic institutions
and implementing the acquis communautaire,
had a positive impact on their economic
reforms, on the inflow of foreign direct
investment and the growth of their trade.
These countries have become leaders in the
East European region. In contrast, countries
with some limited or no perspective of European
integration have often lagged behind the
candidate countries in democratic and economic
transformation.
Countries that have fallen
behind the advanced economies of the region
and are characterized by weak public governance
and rising poverty are more sensitive to
threats to stability, and often face conflict
and insecurity. Specific risks exist in
economies in transition, where poverty and
other difficulties may have caused new security
threats. These countries are frequently
the new centres of transborder crime, illegal
trafficking, corruption and money laundering,
organized crime having a negative impact
on their economies, on budgetary revenues
and development of business.
The enlargement will in
many ways bring positive developments and
enhance security in the enlarged EU. However,
a major challenge will be to achieve an
overall stability in the region and to avoid
new divisions. The EU, together with some
east European countries such as the Russian
Federation and Ukraine, have already introduced
action plans to fight organized crime. Similar
action plans could perhaps be further developed
with other neighbouring countries. In those
countries, the greatest emphasis should
be given to conflict prevention, which can
be achieved through good governance and
greater integration into the global economy.
Strengthening of the
long-standing partnership of the UNECE and
the OSCE
The UNECE's cooperation
with the OSCE in particular is long-standing.
Historically, the UNECE was identified as
a fundamental partner of the Conference
on Security and Cooperation in Europe since
its establishment in 1975, especially in
dealing with economic aspects. The UNECE
played an important role in adopting the
Bonn Document of 1990, establishing a set
of key commitments in the economic and environmental
areas, and was also a major force in promoting
the need to review it taking into account
the emergence of new threats to security
at the present time. The UNECE substantially
contributed to the preparation of the new
OSCE Strategy Document for the Economic
and Environmental Dimension, which was adopted
by the OSCE Ministerial Council in December
2003 in Maastricht, inviting UNECE to continue
to cooperate with the OSCE. The EU has always
been supportive to promoting the close partnership
and recognition of complementarities of
both organizations.
The UNECE and the OSCE
share the same membership and both provide
to their members multilateral, neutral platforms
for consensus building. On the other hand,
there are some dissimilarities or complementarities:
the UNECE, because of the nature of its
work, and unlike the OSCE, has a network
of experts from both the public and private
sectors, from which OSCE could benefit in
its conflict prevention work. Additionally,
the UNECE's conventions, norms, standards
and guidelines in a wide range of areas,
provide a unique framework of benchmarks
that are of great use to the OSCE in its
security and conflict prevention work. In
the new OSCE Strategy Document, UNECE is
identified as the principal partner organization
in the implementation of the strategies
set forth in this document.
I am pleased to inform
you that the UNECE member States at the
recently held Annual Session of the UNECE
endorsed and supported further strengthening
of the partnership and cooperation between
the UNECE and OSCE in implementing the New
Strategy Document.
An Inter-secretariat Task
Force has been established to monitor and
measure commitments set out in the New Strategy
Document and to work out the modalities
of the new collaboration between both organizations
aimed at implementing those commitments.
The task force recently held its first meeting.
What can UNECE offer?
In post-enlargement Europe
a unique role can be played by UNECE in
the economic dimension of security. What
can UNECE offer?
-
UNECE has a long
and well-recognised expertise in developing
norms, standards, conventions and other
binding and non-binding legislation
in the areas of trade, transport, energy,
environment and agriculture; its instruments
in fact provide the basis for many EU
policies and legislation and make a
significant contribution to the success
of the EU's Customs Union and Single
Market. Recently the EU adopted three
legislative proposals towards full application
of the 1998 Aarhus Convention on environmental
democracy developed in the UNECE. Vice
versa, many UNECE initiatives are in
fact led by EU Member States and EU
policies.
-
It provides valuable
analytical work, particularly analysis
of the transition to a market economy
of the countries of Southern and Eastern
Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia;
-
It actively contributes
to the work of a number of international
organizations, such as WTO, WCO, OSCE,
UNCTAD;
-
UNECE is already
making efforts in the security area
through the work of its Principal Subsidiary
Bodies and their Working Parties to
improve security of trade, transport,
and energy and in the environment. For
example, in the area of trade, UNECE
is considering possible approaches to
the development of a longer-term strategy
for trade security and trade facilitation.
It was suggested that a useful basis
for the future work could be the existing
UN/CEFACT Supply Chain Model, and possibly
also the UNECE International Trade Transaction
Model. Work on updating both these models
is currently underway.
Furthermore, based on the
mandate given to the UNECE secretariat at
the last UNECE Annual Session, UNECE is
ready to contribute to the preparation of
the review document for discussion at the
OSCE Economic Forums and provide necessary
assistance in developing early warning mechanisms
and assessment of implementation of commitments.
What are the challenges
we have to face?
There are three major
challenges to be addressed in implementing
the new strategies in order to achieve a
win-win situation for all stakeholders:
-
Identification and
scoping of the economic threats to security
(What are the real economic security
threats? What are the solutions? What
are the stabilizers and catalysts of
the economic dimension of security?);
-
Development of the
"new architecture" based on the relations
between three major pillars - OSCE,
UNECE and Council of Europe, and with
the vital support and cooperation of
the EU (What will be the role of the
new architecture? How to involve other
players, such as other UN bodies, ILO,
IMF or World Bank?);
-
Establishment of
a new dialogue with those countries,
which are weakened by the transition
process and lacking democracy and a
rules based system, to be addressed
by "new architecture" (How to support
the transition process, particularly
in the CIS countries and the Western
Balkans, to ensure their integration
into a global economy, while avoiding
new divisions in the UNECE region).
Conclusions
We are on the eve
of enlarging the EU eastward. I strongly
believe that the progress the EU has already
made, as a uniquely successful experiment
in the regional integration of 10 countries
gradually increasing to EU25 in less than
two months, will be a relevant example to
other regions in two aspects: (1) how to
promote reforms in order to make integration
possible as in the case of candidate countries;
(2) how to deal with challenges of a globalization.
I see the role of UNECE
becoming even more relevant in the coming
years, especially in relation to the twin
trends of globalisation and regional integration,
offering as it does an open and accessible
platform to all its 55 member States for
economic integration within its region,
and helping less-advantaged countries to
manage the impact of globalisation. UNECE's
evolving role in the region as a bridge
between all its members, to ensure open
communication and cooperation between all
countries in the region, is undisputable.
In particular, UNECE will
continue to help non-acceding transition
countries with little or no immediate prospect
of EU membership to integrate into European
and global markets, through its unique expertise
and work in trade facilitation and international
standards and norms in agriculture, transport,
environment and others.
Many countries in Southern
and Eastern Europe have to face the challenge
of strengthening governance and democracy.
A consistent part of it is the fight against
corruption, which undermines economic efficiency
and increases social disparities. The role
of the State in encouraging and regulating
the business community is still in the process
of evolution in some of those countries
and UNECE can assist in several sectors
by offering focused programmes.
UNECE, as the traditional
partner of the OSCE, is ready to further
enhance this partnership and to contribute
to the economic and environmental dimension
of security, which will firmly anchor on
UNECE's agenda. I believe that the field
presence of the OSCE appropriately supplemented
with the deep expertise of the UNECE will
be an essential element of the new cooperation
with the OSCE. This calls for an early formalisation
of the relations between both organizations
to build a solid basis of further work.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The purpose of the Workshop
on "The Economic Dimension of Security in
Europe: Facing New Challenges in a Changing
Europe" is to bring together major players
and experts in the economic dimension of
security in order to discuss how integration
and cooperation in the region will affect
the future shape and direction of the economic
dimension of security in the next decade.
It aims at answering the range of various
questions outlined in the Annotated Agenda
of the Workshop in front of you.
I believe that today's
Workshop and its highly relevant topic will
launch a fruitful discussion and meet its
aims.
I wish you successful deliberations.
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