Wednesday, 17 June 2015. | |
Minister Dacic in meetings on the fringes of the Vienna MSC |
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First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic, in his capacity as OSCE Chairman-in-Office, is on a two-day visit to Vienna, where he had talks with his counterparts, Foreign Ministers of Austria, Ukraine and Switzerland, on the margins of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) Core Group meeting.
"I would like to single out my conversation with Austrian Minister Sebastian Kurz. We discussed our bilateral relations which we have assessed as being very good, the preparations for the Vienna Conference, to be held on 27 August, and a follow-up to the Berlin Process, but we also talked about the issues from the OSCE competence as well. Moreover, we talked about the appointment of my new Special Representative for Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact Group comprising Russia, Ukraine and an OSCE representative. The person in question is an Austrian diplomat, Martin Sajdic who is currently serving at the Austrian Mission to the UN. Meetings in Kyiv and Moscow are scheduled for the coming weekend, while the Belgrade meeting is due on Monday. I am saying this because should all parties agree, I can appoint him as my Special Representative." When it comes to Ukraine, Minister Dacic said that he talked last evening with Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin, and that morning with Swiss Minister Didier Burkhalter, having in mind that the OSCE Troika would meet in Helsinki on 10 July to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act and the OSCE existence. "On this occasion, high-ranking officials' conference will be held in Helsinki, where the State Secretaries, i.e. Deputy Foreign Ministers from all the OSCE countries will be present, and us, the three Ministers, members of the Troika. All the discussions we had today in Vienna also centered round the Panel of Eminent Persons set up by the OSCE Troika, and headed by Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger. The Panel is tasked with analyzing the functioning of the OSCE and the lessons that the OSCE should learn from the various challenges emerging in this 40-year period." The Serbian Foreign Minister stressed that he would look at the interim report together with the Panel of Eminent Persons, while the final report was due to be presented to the Ministerial Conference on 3-4 December in Belgrade. |