SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS COUNCIL OF BALTIC SEA STATES PLAYS KEY ROLE IN HELPING UNDERPIN STABLE, DEMOCRATIC, PROSPEROUS AND UNDIVIDED EUROPE
Press Release
SG/SM/7032
SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS COUNCIL OF BALTIC SEA STATES PLAYS KEY ROLE IN HELPING UNDERPIN STABLE, DEMOCRATIC, PROSPEROUS AND UNDIVIDED EUROPE
19990616 Following is the text of the message by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, which was delivered on his behalf in Riga, Latvia, on 14 June, by the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Vladimir Petrovsky:Sub-regional groupings provide essential tools for cooperation, growth and understanding across national boundaries. They remind us that what unites neighbouring countries is far more than the borders that separate them. They strengthen the sense of a regional identity and kinship, held together not only by a common geography and history, but also by shared aspirations to democracy, human rights and freedom.
Through cooperation in many fields -- ranging from human rights to economic and social issues, from the environment to sustainable development -- the Council of the Baltic Sea States plays a key role in helping to underpin a stable, democratic, prosperous and undivided Europe.
For several countries in the region, Baltic cooperation has helped ease the transition to a market economy. It has facilitated progress on the status of minorities. And it has helped strengthen European security and cooperation as a whole.
Uniting countries big and small, linking democracies young and old, the Council could serve as an example for sub-regional cooperation in other parts of Europe -- especially in those regions that need it most. The Conference on South Eastern Europe recently proposed by the European Union could be a crucial tool in the process of Balkan reconciliation and reconstruction, and in the prevention of future conflict in the region. It is my fervent hope that when the time comes to rebuild after the terrible tragedy of Kosovo, such a conference will become a reality. And I hope that it would draw inspiration from grouping such as yours -- groupings whose diversity of membership is an opportunity for development, rather than a recipe for division.
I am please, therefore, to convey my warmest greetings to this meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Council of the Baltic Sea States. On behalf of the United Nations I wish you every success in your deliberations. I add the hope that you will continue to contribute to a stable and prosperous Europe well into the new millennium. * *** *