Philip H. Gordon, US Assistant Secretary on European and Eurasian Affairs, urges the OSCE to pay more attention to democracy and frozen conflicts in the post- Soviet area.
"We all know that a consensus-based organization with 56 participating States sometimes moves in baby steps when we want to see larger and faster strides. We can take comfort that whether the OSCE is working to eliminate rocket fuel in Ukraine, advocating for journalists and bloggers in Azerbaijan, or developing a multi-ethnic police force in Serbia and Kyrgyzstan, those small steps can result in impressive progress over time, and thus deserve our sustained attention", Mr. Gordon announced in his Statement before the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. The potential of the OSCE has not yet been fulfilled, he said and called on the OSCE to be more active.