News and press releases

TIRANA/VIENNA, 23 March 2020- OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Prime Minister and Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania, Edi Rama, and OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger expressed their deep concern that in recent days, the armed formations have prevented the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) from crossing the contact line into non-government-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine. They called for urgent steps to ensure the safety of SMM staff and that the SMM is able to continue to operate, while taking into account the need to control the spread of COVID-19...

OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger acknowledged exceptional efforts and achievements of OSCE staff members in promoting gender equality in the OSCE and beyond at an award ceremony that took place on 12 March 2020, in Vienna.

VIENNA, 27 February 2020 – Enhancing co-operation between the OSCE’s Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC) and the Permanent Council (PC) in preventing and countering terrorism was the focus of a joint meeting of the FSC and PC held on 26 February in Vienna under Turkey’s FSC Chairmanship and Albania’s OSCE Chairmanship. The discussions focused on how the FSC, as the OSCE’s leading decision-making body in the politico-military sphere, can contribute, in line with its mandate and existing instruments, to the OSCE’s comprehensive approach to combating terrorism...

TIRANA / VIENNA, 18 February 2020- OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Prime Minister and Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania, Edi Rama, and OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger expressed their deep concern about reports of heavy fighting near the Zolote disengagement area in eastern Ukraine today. They regretted in particular the reports of casualties. While noting that the fighting there was reported to have stopped, they called for restraint and full respect for the ceasefire, especially after the many recommitments and reaffirmations most recently in the conclusions of the Normandy-format Summit in Paris on 9 December.

MUNICH, Germany, 15 February 2020 – Co-operation between the OSCE and Armenia was a focus of a meeting yesterday between OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger and Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan on the margins of the Munich Security Conference...

VIENNA, 10 February 2020 – OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger met with Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov today. They discussed current issues and co-operation between the OSCE and Azerbaijan.

BERLIN, 31 January 2020 – The second high-level meeting of the Franco-German initiative for the comprehensive control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in the Western Balkans, supported by the OSCE, was held today in Berlin. The meeting focused on progress evaluation and provided an occasion for Western Balkans representatives and their international partners to present the results reached thus far, as well as their proposals for further activities under the 2024 Roadmap...