Foreign policy chiefs from 56 western and central Asian countries said today they hope to reach a new security agreement that would cover much of the northern hemisphere, according to AP. The U.S. said it was studying a Russian proposal to overhaul security agreements in the region _ changes billed by Moscow as a vital post-Cold War reform _ but that it should not affect NATO. The two-day meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe opened Tuesday amid efforts to reach OSCE"s first broad agreement on security since 2002, and Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said there was slight progress. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov promoted a set of security reform proposals sent to western leaders over the weekend by President Dmitry Medvedev. «There is a need to undertake decisive steps to overcome remaining dividing lines in the Euro-Atlantic region,» Lavrov said. «(It) seemed so achievable right after the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago. We can only blame remaining prejudices and inertia for the fact that it has not been achieved.» U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton did not attend the talks in Greece, nor did the foreign ministers of Britain and Canada. James Steinberg, a deputy U.S. secretary of state who did, gave a measured response to Medvedev"s letter and said Washington was studying the document.
