Japan-OSCE Conference on Conflict Prevention

March 10, 2004

A Conference on the theme "Search for Effective Conflict Prevention in the New Security Circumstance" will be held in Tokyo (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) on March 15 (Mon) and 16 (Tue), co-hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Organisation of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Dr. Tatsuo Arima, Special Envoy of the Government of Japan, and Ambassador Jan Kubiš, Secretary General of the OSCE, will co-chair this conference, which will also be attended by Ambassador Lamberto Zannier, Director of the Conflict Prevention Centre of the OSCE, representatives of the 55 OSCE member countries, of the "OSCE partners for cooperation" such as Japan, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan, high-level officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, and security experts from both European and Asian countries. The representatives of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) members will also take part in this conference, as the ARF Workshop on Preventive Diplomacy will be held in Tokyo on March 16 (Tue) and 17 (Wed).
The aim of the conference is to share between participants from Europe and Asia their views on such common security challenges as terrorism, proliferation of WMD, trafficking of small arms and light weapons, and drug and human trafficking, and to explore the possibility of future cooperation between the two regions.

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