Secretary General

VIENNA, 14 June 2013 – The role of the OSCE in the modern security landscape, addressing challenges and role of social media in enhancing security will be in focus at the OSCE Security Days conference that will start in Vienna on Monday.

The two-day conference will bring together officials from OSCE participating States and institutions, renowned experts, researchers, journalists and NGO activists. They will discuss the role of the OSCE in the 21st century, security threats in the OSCE region, security challenges stepping from the neighbourhood, preventing and resolving conflicts, the involvement of academia, civil society and media in shaping a security community.

Among participants of the conference are Mohamed Imhammed Abdul-Aziz, Foreign Minister of Libya, Igor Ivanov, President of the Russian International Affairs Council and former Russian Foreign Minister; Wolfgang Schuessel, Former Austrian Chancellor and the President of the Foreign Policy and UN Association of Austria; Dora Bakoyannis, Member of the Greek Parliament and former Greek Foreign Minister; Wolfgang Ischinger, the Chair of the Munich Security Conference; Roza Otunbayeva, ex-President of Kyrgyzstan; Alexander Grushko, Russian Permanent Representative to NATO and Edward Lucas, International Editor of the Economist.

OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier, and Chairperson of the OSCE Permanent Council, Ambassador Ihor Prokopchuk of Ukraine, OSCE 2013 Chairmanship, will open the conference.

The conference is fully open to media representatives. Journalists are kindly requested to send a message to press@osce.org to register.

The conference will start on Monday, 17 June, at 9:30, at the Neuer Saal of the Hofburg Congress Centre.

On 17 June, at 19:00, a special Night Owl Session will take place at the Saeulenhalle of the Welt Museum (Heldenplatz). It is meant as an informal event for young people, and will discuss how social media can change our world.

The conference will continue from 10:00 on 18 June at the Neuer Saal of the Hofburg.

The conference proceedings from the Hofburg will be webcast at https://www.osce.org/event/securitydays2013

Comments and questions can be sent prior to and during the event via Twitter, @OSCE and @OSCE_RU using the hashtag #secdays.