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A spokesperson for LINKS, one of the organisers of the event, said "We very much hope that Governments in the region, the international community, and civil society, will study these ideas and take at least some of them forward in 2015"

The European Parliament has voted by 490 votes to 76 to ratify Georgia's Association Agreement with the EU.

The South Ossetians want unity with Russia, and they want it now. Even Mr Putin may not be ready for that. Joseph Alexander Smith reports from Tbilisi on the latest from the leadership of the self-declared republic.

Georgia expresses its displeasure at the signing of a new treaty between Sukhumi and Moscow which it claims is tantamount to annexation.

Jospeh Alexander Smith discusses new tensions in the negotiations reflecting wider global tensions.

Observers note an increased engagement by GUAM countries in the work of the organisation in the last year.

Mrs Merkel said Russia was "creating problems" for Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine and that Russia's violation of "the territorial integrity of Ukraine must not be allowed to stand".

At a meeting with the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Foreign Minister Mammadyarov said that Azerbaijan already had a strategic relationship with a number of EU countries and hoped this could be established with the EU itself also.

The Swiss Chairmanship of the OSCE in 2014 was marked by challenges to European security unprecedented since the creation of the organisation. Switzerland probably saved the OSCE from collapse. Its successors now need to ensure its future.