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The EU thanks the Co-ordinator and his Office, Ukraine as the host country and the Slovenian Chairmanship for organising this successful third Preparatory Seminar in Kiev.
The use of the format of panel discussions, which had already been tried out at the previous Preparatory Seminar in Almaty, helped again to make discussions more lively and result oriented.
The topic of the Seminar ("Integrating persons belonging to national minorities: economic and other perspectives") proved to be relevant to all three OSCE dimensions and demonstrated that the economic and environmental dimension can make a vital contribution to addressing a wide range of security issues.
The Seminar led to a long list of suggestions. At the last meeting of the Economic and Environmental Sub-Committee the EU has commented on them in some detail and has proposed areas on which the follow-up activities should focus. It should be pointed out again that the Seminar has clearly demonstrated that good governance, which, according to the OSCE Strategy for the Economic and Environmental Dimension, should be at the core of all activities in this dimension, plays a decisive role in successful efforts to integrate persons belonging to national minorities into our economies.
The Seminar also made clear that integrating national minorities is a complex task which goes beyond the economic and environmental dimension and requires further efforts of governments in the EU and in other participating States. The OSCE, and in particular the HCNM, can, if so requested, support them in creating the legal and organisational tools for fulfilling this responsibility.
The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania and the Candidate Countries Turkey and Croatia* align themselves with this statement.
* Croatia continues to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process
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