News

On 16 April in Vilnius, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis received representatives from the Finnish and Greek Chairmanships of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the upcoming Irish Chairmanship in 2012. 

Lithuania’s preparations to chair the OSCE in 2011 was discussed during the meetings with former Head of the Permanent Mission of Finland to the OSCE Antti Turunen, Permanent Representative of Greece to the OSCE Mara Marinaki, Permanent Representative of Ireland to the OSCE Eoin O’Leary, head of the OSCE Secretary General’s Office Paul Fritsch, other Finnish and Irish diplomats.

“Lithuania’s OSCE Chairmanship is a serious international challenge and political responsibility. Therefore, the experience of the Finnish and the Greek Chairmanships is very important for the preparation of the Programme of the Chairmanship. We will actively cooperate with Ireland within the OSCE Troika,” Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs A.Ažubalis said during the meeting.

Finland held the OSCE Chairmanship in 2008 and Greece in 2009. This year, the organization is chaired by Kazakhstan. Currently, the latter two countries and Lithuania comprise the OSCE Troika. In 2012, Ireland will take over the Chairmanship of the organization.

Representatives from Finland and Greece stressed that the country’s OSCE Chairmanship was a national task, which involved many public institutions.

The guests also emphasized that an ability to reach an agreement with the other 55 OSCE members, to respond timely to potential crisis situations in the OSCE area, to address the issues of conflict resolution and human rights was very important for the state that held the OSCE Chairmanship.

The guests noted that the OSCE Chairmanship was a significant administrative and financial burden.

During the meetings with Lithuania’s OSCE Chairmanship team, other important OSCE Chairmanship issues were also discussed: planning the agenda of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, effective decision-making, relations with the OSCE Secretariat and other institutions of this organization, agencies, as well as the public relations strategy.

During a bilateral meeting with former Head of the Permanent Mission of Finland to the OSCE, who is currently appointed as the new UN Representative for Georgia, the situation in Georgia was discussed.

It is expected that Lithuania’s OSCE Chairmanship in 2011 will help to strengthen the country’s international and regional role, to prepare for the Presidency of the European Union in 2013 and for the possible membership in the UN Security Council in 2014-2015. During the Chairmanship, Lithuania intends to focus on comprehensive security dialogue in Europe (the Corfu Process), on strengthening security and confidence building within the OSCE area, the media freedom and human rights protection, as well as on the development of regional cooperation.