Model OSCE of the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship

Switzerland will assume the Chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2014.

In accordance with the year’s overall theme, “Creating a Security Community for the Benefit of Everyone,” it will pursue three overarching objectives:

• Fostering security and stability in Europe;
• Improving people’s lives;
• And strengthening the OSCE and increasing its capacity to act.

As part of its third objective, Switzerland wants to strengthen the voice of young people and enhance their involvement within OSCE structures. It will therefore organise a year-long Model OSCE series in which one delegate from each of the 57 OSCE-participating States will be invited to participate.

More specifically, that means that the delegates will simulate the activities and responsibilities of two specific OSCE decision-making bodies. And in doing so, the delegates will . . .

• Get familiar with OSCE structures and –themes;
• Have the opportunity to acquire and develop various skills (in international diplomacy, negotiations, public speaking, communications, problem solving and critical thinking);
• Improve their team-working and leadership abilities;
• And have the opportunity to meet other young people from the 57 OSCE-participating States.

Who should register in the Model OSCE? We strongly encourage young people aged 18-30 to submit their applications. Participants must be citizens of one of the 57 OSCE participating States, fluent in written and oral English, interested in international politics, and ready to devote their time and ideas to this project throughout the year of the Swiss OSCE Presidency. More

 

Please visit the Swiss National Youth Council (SNYC) website to submit your application.

 

Attracting Investment: Finnish Entrepreneur Preaches The Gospel Of Pakistani Opportunity

ISLAMABAD: On January 20 of this year, viewers of Finnish television channel MTV3’s popular show “Good Morning Finland” were witness to something rather unusual: a businessman making the argument that one of the great unreported emerging markets’ business opportunities in the world lay not in India or China, but in Pakistan.

The entrepreneur in question was Wille Eerola, a technology and media consultant who first visited Pakistan eight years ago and for the last several months has been spending one week of every month in Islamabad. Eerola’s argument is simple: Pakistan gets far too much negative attention in the international media which overshadows the tremendous untapped potential in the country, specifically its young entrepreneurs.

“There is huge potential and a growing market that nobody knows of,” said Eerola in an interview with The Express Tribune. “The potential and size of the Pakistani market have generated great interest in me and everyone else who I have been talking to.”

Eerola visits campuses across the northern part of the country, meeting students and talking to them about their business ideas. While he did not explicitly say so, he appears to be in the process of setting up a venture capital fund to incubate, advise and grow small Pakistani businesses and start-ups.

“We are creating a project for new companies to start up from – whether it means providing funding or management expertise, understanding of sales abroad and so on,” he said. “And adjacent to that I am building up a fund by this spring which will then support funding of those new born companies.”

The concept Eerola speaks about is one that some of the largest venture capital funds in the United States have already employed. Some US venture funds provide not just capital, but also office space and consulting on how to grow the business. More