Southeast Europe is undergoing a significant transformation and despite the challenges such as the global financial crisis, it is moving forward and a lot of credit for such transformation and democratic stabilisation goes to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said in the southern Adriatic town of Dubrovnik on Friday.
Kosor said this in her opening address at the autumn session of the OSCE Parliament Assembly entitled "Regional Development of Southeast Europe - Challenges, Possibilities and Prospects" which is being held in Dubrovnik until Sunday.
Kosor welcomed the fact that OSCE dedicated the session to the events in Southeast Europe, saying that choosing Croatia to host the meeting, the Parliamentary Assembly had shown it appreciated Croatia's constructive role in promoting OSCE's standards and principles.
Commending the European umbrella security organisation, Kosor said that although it was a product of the Cold War, OSCE in the early 1990s turned into an active player in the most important events aimed at building peace in Europe.
"Central Europe, from the Baltics to the Adriatic, has been transformed and consolidated with the help of OSCE," she said.
Kosor said that after joining the organisation almost 20 years ago, Croatia had crossed a long path from a country exposed to aggression and a recipient of UN and OSCE peace missions to a country seen as "an anchor of stability and prospects in Southeast Europe."
She recalled that in December Croatia would sign an Accession Treaty with the European Union and join the bloc on 1 July 2013.
Through its membership in the most important global organisations -- the European Union and NATO-- Croatia has accomplished not only its national and strategic objectives but it also helped the stabilisation and Europesation of Southeast Europe.
The participants in the OSCE PA autumn session were also addressed by Croatian President Ivo Josipovic, who said OSCE was one of the most important platforms for dialogue on European and global security as it provides a comprehensive security concept and generally accepted principles and efficient tools for preventing conflicts and the implementation of democratic standards.
Josipovic congratulated the OSCE parliamentarians on the selection of the topic for the autumn.
"I welcome the decision to discuss the future of peoples in this region because their future is also the future of Europe," said Josipovic underlining Croatia's commitment to all processes in Southeast Europe aimed at creating a zone of peace, stability and prosperity.
He called on the international community to bolster European prospects of Southeast European countries.
"Croatia, as the future 28th member of the European Union is ready to assume its share of responsibility and give its full contribution to the process."
