Today, North Macedonia receives the one-year chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) from Poland, while the duties of the chairman will be performed by the head of diplomacy, Bujar Osmani.

Osmani said that North Macedonia as chairmanship will focus on maintaining the principles and obligations of the OSCE and that one of the first priorities will be support for Ukraine.

Presenting his chairmanship priorities at the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, Osmani said in September that at a time when the OSCE is under serious tests, it is essential to rebuild mutual trust and show political will for dialogue to common security issues.

At the OSCE ministerial meeting in Lodz in December, Osmani singled out support for Ukraine as one of the top priorities during North Macedonia’s presidency.

“Our efforts will be focused on ensuring continued OSCE presence and engagement in Ukraine, providing programmatic support in all three dimensions through the newly established Ukraine Support Programme, as well as sending a special representative of the OSCE Chairmanship for political reporting”, said Osmani.

He expressed his readiness to put into operation all the capacities and mechanisms of the OSCE as chairman, with the aim of helping the affected population of Ukraine in facing the challenges arising from the energy and food crisis.

It is worth noting that Bujar Osmani is the second Albanian to head the OSCE within three years, after Edi Rama as head three years ago, where he had to travel to the then war zones in Ukraine, meeting and with Russian chief diplomat Sergey Lavrov.

The OSCE, which is headquartered in Vienna, was founded in 1973 and is the largest intergovernmental security organization in the world with 57 member countries and 11 partner countries. North Macedonia chairs that organization for the first time.

/k.s/