UN General Assembly
1998

peaceful settlement of this conflict, and we support the efforts of the international community in this direction, including those of the Contact Group, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe. Beyond all doubt, the countries in the region must be constantly consulted regarding measures that are to be taken for the settlement of the conflict. The Balkans and, in a broader sense, South-Eastern Europe have, inter alia, an image problem. The inventory of local disputes gets more attention than the inventory of real success stories. We forget that a number of these countries have managed to make the transition from dictatorships and centralized economies to democracies and market economies. It is a difficult process but one courageously undertaken by these countries. It is true that it is always up to them to improve their political image — not by falsifying it, but on the contrary by rendering it more exact. There is the need for a certain