Press release

SEVILLE, 7 June 2005 - NGOs play a vital role in providing support for the OSCE's efforts to combat discrimination and promote tolerance, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, said on Tuesday.

Addressing an NGO Preparatory Forum ahead of an OSCE conference on combating anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance, which is to take place on 8 and 9 June in the Spanish city of Cordoba, he said the knowledge, expertise and enthusiasm of civil society were highly valued.

"We all know that with the active participation of civil society - your ideas, your observations, your proposals and your constructive criticisms - you directly contribute to the quality and richness of discussion held at OSCE conferences and meetings,"  the Chairman-in-Office said.

He said the Cordoba Conference, which is the sixth OSCE event to deal with the promotion of tolerance, should be focused on implementation. "It is an opportunity to take a critical look at the commitments made by OSCE participating States, to assess how far they have been implemented and to identify areas that may have been neglected up to now."