CIS DISCONTENT WITH OSCE STATE OF AFFAIRS

The CIS member-states expressed dissatisfaction with the state of affairs of the OSCE, participants of the consultations on interaction of the CIS member-states within the Organization held today in the CIS Executive Committee in Minsk declared. Representatives of the Foreign Ministries of Belarus, Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine are taking part in the talks. As Director of the Department of Political and Humanitarian Cooperation of the CIS Executive Committee Rudolf Alexeyev said, a number of crisis tendencies have appeared in the OSCE. “With its present appearance the Organization does not serve the purpose of establishing equal dialogue and cooperation for 35 member-states. Sometimes the dialogue is replaced by instruction and equal cooperation yields to political pressure”, he said. Many member-states spoke out for reformation of the structure. The same position is expressed in the statement by 8 Presidents of the CIS states to OSCE partners issued on July 3, 2004, Belarusskie Novosti reported.