OSCE Chairman to attend Ukraine's Presidential inauguration

LJUBLJANA, 21 January 2005 - The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, is to attend Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's inauguration on Sunday, 23 January 2005.

Recalling his earlier meeting with President-elect Yushchenko at the beginning of January, when the result of the election was still contested pending appeals by the losing candidate, the Chairman-in-Office said he now looked forward to renewing contacts with the leader of Ukraine on the margins of the inauguration ceremony.

"Over the past few weeks, I have admired the maturity of the Ukrainian people and their obvious desire to adhere to the democratic process. The fact that the recent political crisis had been resolved without bloodshed or serious violence cannot be praised too highly."

The CiO stressed the importance that the entire Organization attached to having a democratic and stable Ukraine, located at the very heart of the OSCE region, which stretches from Vancouver to Vladivostok