The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict tops the agenda of the visit of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly president to Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The assembly president, Greek MP Petros Efthymiou, is visiting the South Caucasus this week.
Interviewed by APA before his visit, he hoped that he could encourage progress.
"I look forward to meeting with presidents, foreign ministers, government and opposition representatives, parliamentarians and civil society members across the region. In addition, I will meet with the OSCE offices in Yerevan and Baku. These offices are the backbone of the OSCE. We will be discussing recent developments in the region as well as OSCE Parliamentary Assembly priorities," Efthymiou said.
He said that as president of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, a major goal of his visit was to enhance cooperation with the parliaments in each country and support their progress and development.
"I look forward to the day when we have a peaceful resolution to territorial disputes so that all sides can devote their full energy to shared progress and prosperity. I am not visiting the region to make any predictions, only to promote progress. The OSCE Minsk Group has been working to facilitate dialogue on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for almost a decade now.
"We still need courage and political will from all sides to take the steps needed to reach a lasting resolution. The main role of the Parliamentary Assembly is to help build confidence through parliamentary dialogue. At its best, an improved relationship at this level can help forge better relationships at the government level."
Commenting on the problems of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Petros Efthymiou called for reform.
"Until the OSCE functions on a higher political plane, with greater openness and transparency and more buy-in from foreign ministers, the organization will continue to flounder. Specifically, we need to change consensus-based rule, particularly in times of crisis, so we are not forced into inaction by one country while 55 others seek progress.
"As I write, I am hopeful that the foreign ministers of all participating states will agree with my call for a higher level political appointee to serve as the next OSCE secretary general. A senior political appointee in this position could have the effect of instantly upgrading the profile of the OSCE. All of these changes will have little impact, however, if the OSCE does not begin to practise the same spirit of transparency that it preaches to all 56 countries. Budgets should be subject to publicly-available audits, and meetings of Permanent Council should be open to journalists and civil society. Having the Ministerial Council meet twice a year could also help to ensure the OSCE operates with the support and backing of more political weight
"It is a priority for the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to keep the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh and the general situation in the Caucasus high on the agenda. This is also the background for my visit – a little more than one month prior to the Assembly’s Annual Session. As you know, the former special representative, Goran Lennmarker, left politics, and now I seek to follow the situation as closely as possible in my capacity as president of the assembly."
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