Summit documents

At the seventh OSCE Summit of Heads of State or Government, held in Astana on 1–2 December 2010, the participating States adopted the Astana Commemorative Declaration, in which they reconfirmed existing OSCE commitments and recommitted to the vision of a free, democratic, common and indivisible Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security community, rooted in agreed principles, shared commitments and common goals.

The OSCE Heads of State gathered in Istanbul in November 1999 for their Sixth Summit, where they signed the Charter for European Security and adopted the Istanbul Summit Declaration. At the same time, 30 OSCE participating States signed the Agreement on Adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), which amended the 1990 CFE Treaty to better reflect the changes since the end of the Cold War.

The fifth Heads of State Summit—the first under the OSCE name—took place in Lisbon, adopting the Declaration on a Common and Comprehensive Security Model for Europe for the Twenty-First Century.

The Budapest Summit meeting became a turning point for the CSCECSCE
Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe. The attending Heads of State or Government not only decided to institutionalize it and turn it into an organization, but also strengthened a number of its institutions: the Budapest Document "Towards a Genuine Partnership in a New Era" reinforced the role of the Chairperson-in-Office, the Secretary General, the Secretariat, the High Commissioner on National Minorities and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

At the third CSCE Summit, the participants adopted the Helsinki Document 1992: The Challenges of Change, officially establishing the High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM), the Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC) and the Economic Forum, which later became the Economic and Environmental Forum (EEF). Another result of the Summit was the establishment of the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM), which later developed into the largest human rights event in Europe.

The Paris Charter for a New Europe set the basis for the institutionalization of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE). It was adopted by 34 Heads of State or Government at the second CSCE Summit, held in Paris in November 1990, which laid the foundations of the process that transformed the CSCE into today’s OSCE.

The Helsinki Final Act is considered the Organization’s founding document. The fundamental document of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE), was adopted by the original 35 participating States at the first CSCE Summit, which took place in Helsinki from 30 July–1 August 1975.