VIENNA, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Lithuanian Foreign Minister Vyagaudas Usackas on Thursday urged the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to improve its conflict prevention mechanisms.

    The OSCE member states needed to make better use of the tools the organization has developed to prevent conflicts, Usackas told the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna.

    "The ultimate goal of the OSCE is to build political will and use all the preventive mechanisms, so as not to have to deal with post-conflict rehabilitation afterwards," he said.

    The 2008 conflict in Georgia was a signal to the OSCE that the organization's mechanisms for early warning, conflict prevention and crisis management needed to be bettered, he said.

    "The tragedy in Georgia cannot be repeated," added Usackas, whose country currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States.

    Usackas also said there was a "significant potential" for the OSCE to cooperate with sub-regional institutions.

    Lithuania, which will chair the OSCE in 2011, is interested in promoting such cooperation, Usackas said.