Sergei Lavrov spoke of the need for cooperation within in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe as it tackled difficult objectives in the coming year.
Speaking after a meeting with OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht, Lavrov called on member nations to work together on contentious issues, particularly foreign observers in national elections.
"We will have to find a compromise on difficult issues, including the activities of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, particularly election monitoring," the minister said.
Russian officials have questioned the role of OSCE monitors in elections in former Soviet states, particularly in events after voting in Ukraine and Georgia that led to "revolutions" sweeping new pro-Western authorities to power. The international observers themselves denied any wrongdoing.
De Gucht said the issue of reforming the OSCE, whose 55 member countries span from Canada to Russia, should be resolved by the end of 2006.
The Belgian minister said he had discussed OSCE reform with his Russian opposite number, and said he hoped the issue would be resolved before the next meeting of OSCE foreign ministers on December 5 in Brussels.
De Gucht said he and Lavrov had confirmed the need to balance the three main areas of the OSCE's activity: economic, humanitarian and military-political. While indicating that the group had been experiencing hard times recently, De Gucht said he still believed it was an important organization.
The Belgian minister said all OSCE members should contribute to achieving success in the reform, and Lavrov supported his intention to attain concrete results by the end of the year.
