The Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized today a presentation of the planned activities undertaken so far in the lead-up to the OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting, scheduled to take place in Belgrade on 3-4 December 2015. The Organizing Committee for the OSCE Ministerial Council, in addition to its Chairman, FDPM and FM Ivica Dacic was also attended by Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic, Defence Minister Bratislav Gasic, Minister without portfolio responsible for European integration Jadranka Joksimovic, and by the Chairman of the Ministerial Council’s Executive Committee, Veljko Odalovic.

More than 1,500 participants are expected at the OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting to be held on 3-4 December, at Belgrade’s Arena.

“It is yet not known who of the Foreign Ministers of the OSCE participating States will attend, but it is beyond doubt that their number will be huge, said Dacic, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, in outlining the activities that are planned or that have already been undertaken ahead of the Belgrade Ministerial Council.

At a briefing in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dacic said that the OSCE Council at the Ministerial level will be hosted very sparingly, recalling that last year’s Swiss Chairmanship spent 24 million Swiss francs on the event, while Serbia’s budget for its OSCE Chairmanship amounted to a mere 3 million euro.

“This is a very important event for Serbia politically”, said Dacic adding that judging by the OSCE standards the Arena could only provide the facilities in Belgrade meeting all technical and security requirements, and it would be a challenge to turn a sports arena into a venue of a political event.

According to him, the Executive Committee will discuss in the next few days all matters concerning the organization of the event.