The OSCE Minsk Group Fact Finding Mission has officially presented its report to the OSCE Permanent Council.

At present, three permanent members of the Security Council the United States of America, France and the Russian Federation are the OSCE Minsk Group co Chairs.

On 22 December 2005, the Special Rapporteur is expected to address the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on cooperation among international and regional human rights mechanisms in the prevention of torture.

Foreign relations The UK is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a member of NATO, the Commonwealth of Nations, G7, G8, G20, the OECD, the WTO, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, and is a member state of the European Union.

Estonia has 10 permanent missions to international organisations two of them have a female ambassador (OSCE, IAEA UN headquarters in Vienna).

This is the case of the Council of Europe, the European Union, OSCE and the African Union.

Russia has supported the basic priorities which the Slovenian chairmanship has proposed in the Permanent Council of the OSCE aimed at reforming, revitalizing and restoring balance in three areas of that organization's activities security, the economy and the humanitarian field.

The Security Council should be expanded to include new permanent and non permanent members.

An expansion in the permanent and non permanent categories will provide balance in the Council.

The Council has to be expanded with both new permanent and new non permanent members.

Concerning the Security Council, Kiribati supports the expansion of the permanent and non permanent Council memberships to better reflect the realities of our world today.

(a) Members of the Security Council, including permanent members

(i) The five permanent members of the Security Council

Finland therefore supports an enlargement of the Council in both the permanent and the non permanent categories.

There was no consensus among Foreign Ministers of OSCE States at the conclusion of the last two Ministerial Council meetings.

The new permanent and non permanent members joining the Council as part of this expansion should receive the same prerogatives as current permanent members.

Finland therefore supports an enlargement of the Council in the number of both permanent and non permanent members.

The enlargement of the Council should be carried out in both categories of membership, permanent and non permanent.

As the Council undoubtedly knows, the OSCE still does not have a budget for 2005, some 10 weeks into the year.

As the Council knows, the OSCE is a regional arrangement in the sense of Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter.

Secondly, expansion of the Security Council should be carried out in both categories of membership, permanent and non permanent.

(a) Enlarge the Security Council in both the permanent and non permanent categories and improve on its working methods

I urge the Council to exert that pressure in the context of OSCE mediation efforts to help resolve those long standing conflicts.

The new election code had been further amended in 2005 in accordance with the recommendations of OSCE and the Council of Europe.

Approves the report of the Chairman of the ISF Permanent Council.

More balance can be achieved in the composition of the Council only by expanding both permanent and non permanent membership.

Norway has argued for a balanced enlargement of the Security Council in both the permanent and the non permanent categories.

We have supported the expansion of membership of the Council in both permanent and non permanent categories for some time.

There are in fact already too many differences between permanent and non permanent Council membership to further exacerbate that imbalance.

OSCE Counter Terrorism Action

What opportunities do you see for the OSCE and its expertise outside of the OSCE region?

The Security Council must be expanded, in both its permanent and non permanent membership, and offer an opportunity for permanent voices of the developing world to be heard.

Slovenia will therefore continue to support efforts to enlarge the Council in both its permanent and non permanent categories of membership.

The six new permanent members, together with the existing five permanent ones, would constitute almost half of the Security Council membership.

In the Security Council, eight votes constitutes an absolute majority and no distinction is made between permanent and non permanent members of the Council (Article 10, paragraph 2, of the Statute).

In the Security Council, eight votes constitutes an absolute majority and no distinction is made between permanent and non permanent members of the Council (article 10, paragraph 2, of the Statute).

Striving to avoid duplication of efforts and foster complementarity, the OSCE regularly inventories all OSCE and non OSCE counter terrorism, border security and law enforcement programmes in the region.

Election of five non permanent members of the Security Council 111 (a)

The Forum for Security Co operation (FSC) of the OSCE tackled another aspect of this threat the proliferation of MANPADS by adopting in 2003 and 2004 two decisions on export controls of such systems, which were endorsed by the 2004 OSCE Ministerial Council.

It is a pleasure and an honour to address the Security Council on behalf of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The Council will thus note that the OSCE has an impact beyond its vast region, and that it could develop such relations even further.

We take particular note of the contribution of the OSCE in the implementation of Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) on Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro.

After all, four members of the Contact Group are permanent members of this Council, and the other two have their own passion with regard to the issue of permanent membership in the Council.

In that context, we believe that the Security Council needs to be enlarged in both the permanent and non permanent categories of membership.

You mentioned the success of the OSCE election teams sent to Afghanistan and to the Palestinian Authority and said that the OSCE could develop its relations beyond the OSCE region even further.