Dear Ambassadors, colleagues, friends
Welcome to Madrid. It is an honour for Spain to host the first ever Retreat of the Mediterranean Contact Group of the OSCE. I would like to thank the Austrian Chairmanship of the Group for convening this meeting and to thank also all of you for being here today.
The excellent bilateral relations between Spain and Austria have also their reflection in various multilateral fora and I am pleased to see that in the OSCE we have another example of our fruitful cooperation.
Nowadays, there is no risk of exaggeration when we emphasize the importance of the Mediterranean region. In terms of security, as the AR Mogherini put it just a few days ago, Europe starts in the Sahel. In terms of cooperation, we are convinced of the indispensable need to work with our southern partners in order to face together the present challenges and take advantage of the many opportunities that come along.
Mr Chairman
Today’s agenda is of special interest for my country: Mediation and Dialogue; the situation in Libya and the reinforcement of the Mediterranean dimension of the OSCE, and the cooperation with our Mediterranean partners. All of them are right in the “heart” of our foreign policy.
Spain is a country firmly committed with multilateralism. Preventive diplomacy and mediation are also among our priorities both at the UN and at the OSCE.
We are currently member of the UNSC and have set up an ambitious program for this year, where we strongly support mediation and preventive diplomacy as fundamental tools for the effectiveness of the Security Council.
Mediation efforts have also a long standing tradition in the OSCE. That should be maintained and reinforced through increasing capacity building in this field.
We also believe in cooperation and synergies among the international organizations. Last year we precisely organised here in Madrid an International Seminar on the role of regional organisations in mediation in the Mediterranean region.
As a matter of fact, preventive diplomacy and dialogue are among the hallmarks of the Spanish foreign policy. Just to mention some examples closely related to the Mediterranean: ten years ago we launched with Turkey the Alliance of Civilizations; in 2012 we initiated together with Morocco “Mediation in the Mediterranean”. We launched with Algeria 4 years ago the Strategy on Water in the Western Mediterranean. We are promoting interreligious and intercultural dialogue. Next week we will organize in Alicante the First International Conference on Preventive Diplomacy in the Mediterranean.
We are also particularly keen to work with the civil society. I would like to congratulate the Austrian Chairmanship for having prepared an agenda that will allow the possibility of exchanging views with the experts and representatives of the civil society that met yesterday in the workshop on Dialogue in search of Social Cohesion.
Mr. Chairman
During the last years, our concerns about the situation in the Mediterranean have increased: new and serious conflicts have appeared. This is the case of Libya among others.
In December 2014, in Basel, Minister García Margallo drew the attention of the OSCE Ministerial Council on the worrying situation in Libya and emphasized the need of taking it into account, also in the OSCE.
I am pleased to see that today we will have the opportunity to exchange views on this issue with some distinguished participants and experts, as the UN SG Special Representative, Mr. Martin Kobler.
Just some days ago I attended the last meeting on Libya in Vienna. In our Joint Communiqué we reiterated our full political backing for the efforts of Special Representative Kobler and reaffirmed the essential lines of our position supporting Prime Minister al-Serraj in guiding Libya new institutions. We also expressed our strong support to the Libyan people in maintaining unity in the country, and underlined the importance of the implementation of the Libyan Political Agreement, as stated in the Rome Communiqué of December 2015 and endorsed in UNSC Resolution 2259.
This a crucial moment for Libya. Spain will be ready to support any help that OSCE might offer through, for example, political backing or specific projects of cooperation.
Mr Chairman,
Spain as a Mediterranean country, EU member and Participating State of the OSCE is willing to contribute to give new impetus to the cooperation between the OSCE and its Mediterranean partners. We are convinced that the revitalization of the Mediterranean Contact Group, as a framework for our Mediterranean Partnership, will be instrumental for that purpose.
The commitments assumed in the Basel Ministerial Declaration in 2014, the debates and high level attendance in the OSCE Mediterranean Conference in Jordan last year, the important debates in the MCG and, above all, our common will to cooperate gives us good basis for this revitalization. The Retreat offers a timely opportunity to reflect on how to improve our cooperation and dialogue.
Ahead we have the preparation of the OSCE Mediterranean Conference in Vienna in October in which we are going to deal with subjects as important as Migration, Youth, and Violent extremism. These three issues have in common the need for a comprehensive approach and the need for international cooperation.
We have to work with countries of origin, transit and destination of migrants. We also need to tackle the root causes of violent extremism. In both cases we need to focus on security and development issues.
Allow me also to share with you some ideas about Youth.
Dear colleagues, in our societies, in both sides of the Mediterranean, youth are not the future, but they are the real present. They represent in some cases the large majority of the population; in other cases, a minority but increasingly influential in social evolution. Spain is willing to continue to lead the efforts to promote the discussion about Youth and Security at the OSCE, through the Group of Friends of Youth. We have to work for the young but also with the young. Spain is also ready to convene a meeting next year in Spain with youngsters of the OSCE area.
Dear Ambassador Strohal, you can count on Spain’s contribution in order to make the Mediterranean Conference a success.
Mr. Chairman,
I am confident that the Escuela Diplomática, a place with a long tradition of diplomatic debates, will be an excellent venue for our meeting today.
I would not like to finish my words without thanking its Director and all his team for hosting us today and wishing all of you a fruitful discussion on the very important issues of the agenda.
Thank you