Thank you. Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Minister - it is a great honor to be able to welcome you to the Permanent Council. Your presence here today is a demonstration of your personal attention to this organization and the significant part it plays in promoting security and cooperation in the Euro-Atlantic area. We have appreciated your devotion over the years, as Portugal's foreign minister, to the welfare of the OSCE. Now, as Chairman-in-Office, you have the firm confidence and solid support of the United States of America in your leadership of this organization.

Portugal's vision of the role of the OSCE in 2002 and beyond is very clear and realistic. I want to compliment you on your comprehensive statement. The goals you have set for your chairmanship represent an appropriate balance between our abilities, our strengths, our obligations and our challenges.

The ongoing changes in the international arena of which you have spoken, Mr. Minister, are profound. The tasks that derive from managing these changes and from new threats and security challenges are no less formidable. Those of us who spend our time in this room thus have an immediate duty - to begin to act on the commitments we as participating States have undertaken.

Without question, we all share responsibility for combating the threat of terrorism to our security and to the ability of peoples in all our countries to live their lives in peace and safety.

The tragic events of September 11, 2001 in my country, together with the terrorist acts perpetrated that same month in Istanbul, in Moscow in September 1999, and in many other OSCE countries in recent years, compel us to move beyond words to action. The Terrorism Action Plan we adopted at the Bucharest Ministerial and the resolve evidenced at the Bishkek Conference are the first stones in a foundation that will take time to build. Let us not delay – let us begin the task of implementation now.

We applaud your announcement that you intend to name a special representative on terrorism. If the OSCE is to continue to meet its responsibilities and pursue its mission as one of the major international institutions fighting this scourge—and to make a difference—then we will need the resolve, the resources and the personnel to translate our words into action in very short order.

We also need to rise above our differences, recommit ourselves to the common interest we share in enabling the OSCE to meet its mandates and responsibilities and to demonstrate the foresight to look beyond the short term and devise ways to enhance our common, comprehensive security, as the Istanbul Charter calls upon us to do. We have the tools, but we need to adapt them and use them in new creative ways. Words and discussions must be a precursor, but cannot be a substitute for the responsibility we have to act.

In the months ahead, as we shape the policy and direction of this organization, it is imperative that we listen to one another and seek accommodation. We must draw our advice from a range of experts - on human rights, economics and security - to better integrate the work of all OSCE dimensions. Too often in this organization, we consider issues by assigning them to one or another dimension. I would suggest that we need a more comprehensive approach to security, and must consider where and how we can work more closely together with other institutions, such as NATO and the EU.

Toward this end it is essential that we make the words of the Platform on Security, adopted at Istanbul in 1999, a reality. We need to cooperate more closely with NATO and the EU, better coordinating efforts to address issues to which we bring different but many times complementary and necessary strengths.

The small but significant stride we took forward at Bucharest on developing the economic dimension of OSCE work must be nourished and encouraged to flourish. That was a very common and strong theme that characterized the consultations I just had back in Washington this week.

Expanding the economic work the OSCE does, especially in Central Asia, encouraging OSCE participating States and OSCE institutions to aggressively tackle terrorism while strengthening democracy and human rights and using the uniqueness of the OSCE to bring together representatives of governmental and non-governmental organizations from 55 states - these will be key areas on which our collective work in 2002 will be judged and on which we are ready to work with you.

Cooperation among Participating States and OSCE institutions, including ODIHR, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. And the High Commissioner on National Minorities and work with and among our field missions must continue unabated. Field missions are the backbone of the OSCE. The work that they and other OSCE institutions carry out in the OSCE area is what defines this organization to people of the OSCE region. We look forward to opening additional opportunities for peoples in our countries to take part in and further enrich the work of the OSCE.

Mr. Minister, we are grateful for your comprehensive assessment of the key issues that our missions must address. I am certain we will have ample opportunity to discuss the details of that important work in the course of this year.

But, keying off your comments on Belarus, the United States approach to Belarus in the post-election period is largely guided by the conclusions of the OSCE/ODIHR Report from October 4, 2001. The U.S. believes that the OSCE Mission in Minsk should continue to expand contacts with and support for genuine civil society and independent media within Belarus. The Belarusian Government, in turn, needs to take concrete steps to build democratic institutions and to address human rights concerns.

In that regard, we attach special significance to a new Head of Mission taking the helm at the mission and to his enjoying the full cooperation and support of the Belarusian Government. Only with a Head of Mission in place and having the opportunity to be informed by his on-the-ground experience and expertise, would it be possible to discuss the future functions of that mission.

Mr. Minister, your words today, and the words and commitments of our organization need now to be our call to action. I want to thank you again for your dedication to the OSCE and to keeping the OSCE focused on respect for the universal values and rights by which we define ourselves, our common cause of fighting the threats we face from terrorism and our fundamental desire to broaden cooperation.

Thank you.