On 7 and 8 December in Vienna, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edgars Rinkēvičs, will take part in the 24th Ministerial Council of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), organised by Austria, the country currently holding the OSCE Chairmanship.
The meeting is to address security, politico-military issues, human rights and fundamental freedoms, economic and environmental cooperation. The ministers intend to share opinions on the conflict in Ukraine, the honouring of commitments and the restoration of a rules-based European security order.
During the discussion, Edgars Rinkēvičs will emphasise the OSCE’s significant role in the resolution of the crisis in and around Ukraine and the need for upholding values, and he will reflect on the ways of resolving protracted conflicts.
Background information
The OSCE Ministerial Council is the central decision-making and governing body of the Organization. Ministerial meetings are convened once a year and enable the ministers of the 57 OSCE participating States to review and assess the Organization’s work in the past year as well as providing an opportunity for mapping the national positions of the participating States on security and cooperation matters. The previous OSCE Ministerial Council took place in 2016 in Hamburg under the German Chairmanship. Next year, the chairmanship will be taken over by Italy.
