Dimitrij Rupel, current President of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), who arrived in Moscow for a working visit on Monday, is to discuss OSCE reform problems here on Tuesday

Dimitrij Rupel, current President of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), who arrived in Moscow for a working visit on Monday, is to discuss OSCE reform problems here on Tuesday. Prior to the visit, Rupel told Itar-Tass in Ljubljana, "The main point of the programme for the visit to the Russian Federation is to hold talks with Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov. We shall discuss the OSCE reform problems". "Russia's voice is of highly important within the Organisation," he pointed out. Rupel said he intended to reach a compromise on "such serous matters as the OSCE budget and the election of (the Organisation's) Secretary-General". Slovenia's Foreign Minister "would also like to meet with Lavrov to discuss specific expenditure items of the (OSCE) budget, such as, for example, the fight against terrorism, and the implementation of economic and ecological programmes." Rupel expects that the upcoming talks will also deal with the monitoring of the OSCE member-countries' military doctrines and energy security. He is prepared to speak on the holding of conferences and seminars on these subjects. Lavrov said back in January, "Proposals made by Russia and other countries on the formulation of a common vision, specific criteria of the monitoring of elections and appraisals of their results have long been on the table at the OSCE".