BRUSSELS, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers from 56 participating states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) started their annual ministerial council meeting here on Monday.

    According to the agenda of the two-day meeting, the foreign ministers will focus on tackling protracted "frozen" conflicts and improving OSCE efficiency.

    Opening the meeting, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht, said recent reforms had been more far-reaching than simply procedural or operational and stemmed from the mandate provided by the 2005 ministerial meeting in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana.

    "After years of gloom and doubt, Ljubljana was the Council when the clouds parted. My hope is that Brussels could be the Council which sees a new departure for the Organization," said the Chairman-in-Office.

    "So in that spirit we shall, I hope, start implementing the reform or more precisely reinforcing the effectiveness of an institution too often and unfairly criticized but which still requires, like all others, to undergo critical examination," he added.

    De Gucht said Belgium had worked to redress the balance between the three dimensions of security-politico-military, economic-environmental and human, for example by making proposals on energy and transport. He also noted progress had been made on small arms and light weapons.

    On the "frozen" conflicts, the Chairman-in-Office said that although some progress had been made, in particular on Nagorno-Karabakh (in South Caucasus), it would be "unwise" to expect a solution at this meeting.

    "However, I appeal to each and everyone of you and especially to the main protagonists to use the opportunity offered by this meeting of the main body of this organization to relaunch the course of negotiations that are interrupted or blocked," De Guchtsaid.

    Monday's meeting brings together ministers or their representatives from all the participating states and also from the OSCE's 11 Asian and Mediterranean Partners. International organizations are also to observe the proceedings.

    The 56 participating states are expected to use the meeting to approve a series of decisions for action and possible declarations on a range of subjects.

    The Secretary General of the OSCE, Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, told the opening session that participating states needed to ensure they allocated enough resources for the OSCE to carry out the tasks they had assigned to it.