Thank you, Mr. Chair, Ambassador,
Norway joins other States in sincerely welcoming Spain as the new Chair of the Forum for Security Cooperation. We would also like to thank Denmark for their steadfast leadership of this Forum in the last trimester, welcome Estonia to the FSC Troika and thank Croatia for its efforts as Croatia leaves the FSC Troika.
Mr. Chair,
Norway fully supports the priorities and approach of the Spanish Chairpersonship as presented today. We especially welcome that among the current challenging issues, the Russian Federation’s war of aggression against Ukraine remains on top of the agenda. As long as this unprovoked and unjustified war is ongoing, we must continue to hold Russia accountable for its failure to uphold our common commitments, including as enshrined in the Helsinki Final Act and the OSCE Code of Conduct. We will continue to support Ukraine.
We look forward to fruitful discussions about the responsible military use of new
technologies, and the Joint FSC-PC meeting in March on Women, Peace and Security is both timely and relevant. On the eve of the 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, there is still significant work to be done to secure the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women in the security sector. The OSCE is uniquely placed to help participating states implement this agenda with its mandate as given by MC decision 7/11.
Norway has the honour of chairing the Informal Working Group for the Structured Dialogue in 2024. In this role, we intend to build on the valuable work of Finland and the Netherlands during their chairpersonships to identify and promote avenues for ensuring the present and future of security in our region. We will of course coordinate this work with the Finnish OSCE Chairpersonship, but also the Chairs of the FSC.
Last trimester, the FSC was consecutively disrupted by the interventions of one
delegation, trying to undermine the core function of these meetings: Dialogue and confidence building. We underline the necessity that the FSC meetings are properly conducted and again recommend the Danish Chairpersonship for their approach and willingness to work towards this objective last trimester.
Mr. Chair,
We look forward to cooperating with you and the other future FSC Chairs as you
continue this endeavour and wish you every success in your coming Chairpersonship.
Thank you, Mr. Chair