Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I would like join the European Union, its many
associates, and I am sure, others here today in
welcoming Ambassador Lacombe to the Permanent Council
and in thanking him for his very thorough and very
informative report. The United States values very highly
the work of the OSCE Mission in Tbilisi, including, I
would like to add, its Border Monitoring Operation.
Ambassador Lacombe clearly has a very well-managed
Mission and a highly competent team.
We are today particularly grateful for the detailed
information on the current situation in the South
Ossetian region. Although things appear relatively quiet
overall, we agree that there are a number of areas of
concern that deserve the attention of the international
community. These include refugees, increased
criminality, and the proliferation of small arms.
With regard to the latter, we find the proposal for a
Rapid Reaction Fund to support small arms collections
efforts intriguing. While we cannot commit to any United
States contributions to such a fund at this point, we
will certainly forward the proposal to Washington with
the recommendation that it receive serious
consideration. The OSCE Mission in Georgia deserves
praise for developing this worthy initiative.
With regard to Abkhazia, the United States has been
following closely the work of the Special Representative
of the Secretary General of the United Nations. As a
member of the Friends of Georgia, we strongly support
the efforts of Mr. Boden to revive the Geneva process.
We urge both sides to the conflict to resume the
negotiations as soon as possible, in good faith and
without preconditions.
On the operations of the OSCE Border Monitoring
Operation (BMO), we are pleased to hear that the
expansion authorized at the December 18 Permanent
Council has proceeded well. We are particularly grateful
for the vigilance of the BMO and the thoroughness of its
recent reporting on border activity.
In closing, I would like once again to thank
Ambassador Lacombe and his staff for their continuing
excellent work.
Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
